Neural stem/progenitor cells survive and differentiate better in PD rats than in normal rats.

To investigate the effects of grafted neural stem/mesencephalic progenitor cells (NSCs/MP) on rotational behavior of Parkinson's disease (PD) rats and the influence of intracerebral environment on NSCs/MP, we observed the survival and differentiation of NSCs/MP transplanted into 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-lesioned and intact striatums. NSCs/MP were prepared from E(11-15) rats and proliferated in serum-free medium with bFGF for several weeks. One day after being primed with serum/dbcAMP to differentiate, cell suspensions were grafted into 6-OHDA-lesioned and intact striatums respectively. It had been found that NSCs/MP were able to survive better and differentiate into more tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-positive neurons in 6-OHDA-lesioned striatums than in intact ones, and apomorphine-induced rotations were obviously attenuated in MP graft models. The data suggested that NSCs/MP tend to survive and differentiate into TH-positive neurons in 6-OHDA-lesioned striatums. The data demonstrated that striatums in which DAergic terminals are destroyed by 6-OHDA undergo some changes and thus provide more appropriate conditions for NSCs/MP to differentiate into mature DAergic neurons. Furthermore, the finding that MP had greater relieving effects on rotational behavior than NSCs suggests that NSCs could not be used in clinical therapy of PD unless being induced into MP in vitro before transplantation.