Striatal extracts promote the survival and phenotypic expression of rat fetal dopaminergic neurons in vitro.

To begin to identify novel protein(s) that acts on nigral dopaminergic (DA) neurons, we characterized trophic effects of DA-depleted striatum on survival of fetal DA neurons in the present study. Treatment of ventral mesencephalic cultures with the striatal extracts delayed DA cell death in a dose-dependent manner. This effect was partially dependent on brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), but not glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), present in the extracts. Furthermore, we addressed the hypothesis that the striatum-derived substances can elicit DA phenotypic expression of striatal cells in cultures. The striatal extract was found to be able to induce expression of tyrosine hydroxylase in cultured striatal cells in the presence of dopamine. These data suggest that denervation of the striatum resulted in production of neurotrophic factors, including BDNF and as-yet-unidentified trophic substances, which may be responsible for the increased survival and DA phenotype expression in DA neurons.