[Stromal cell transplant in the 6-OHDA lesion model]

A good deal of evidence currently exists to show that transplanting foetal mesencephalic tissue can produce symptomatic benefits both in patients and in disease models. Nevertheless, the technical and ethical difficulties involved in obtaining enough suitable foetal cerebral tissue have been a serious obstacle to its application. Stromal cells derived from bone marrow, due to their potential capacity to generate different types of cells, could be an ideal source of material for cell restoration in neurodegenerative diseases.

Our aim was to evaluate the effect of transplanting stromal cells derived from bone marrow on the behaviour of 6-OHDA rats, when they are inserted into the striatum.

In this study we used rats with a lesion in the substantia nigra induced by 6-hydroxydopamine, divided into several experimental groups. Rotary activity induced by D-amphetamine (5 mg/kg, intraperitoneally) was evaluated before and throughout the three months following the transplant in all the experimental groups, except in the group of healthy controls. Hemiparkinsonian rats received a total of 350 000 foetal ventral mesencephalic cells and 8 x 10(4) stromal cells/microL, which were implanted in the striatum.

Animals with stromal cells transplanted in the body of the striatum significantly reduced the number of turns induced by amphetamine (p < 0.05); yet this reduction was not greater than that induced by foetal mesencephalic cell transplants. We were also unable to demonstrate any significant improvement in the motor skills of the forelimbs.