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Somatic activation of thalamic neurons transplanted into lesioned somatosensory thalamus
S L Juliano1, I Dusart, M Peschanski
1Department of Anatomy, USUHS, Bethesda, MD 20814.
Abstract:
Homotypic fetal neurons were transplanted into previously lesioned ventrobasal complex of rats. After 1-3 months of survival the animals received injections of 2-deoxy-[14C]glucose to reveal metabolic activity of the transplanted cells in response to somatic stimuli. These experiments indicated that stimulus-evoked activity in the transplants of animals receiving a somatic stimulus was significantly greater than in the transplants of animals that were not stimulated. Control studies using cell counts, cytochrome oxidase and acetylcholinesterase histochemistry established that the differences in activity values were not due to the number of surviving cells or the metabolic health of the individual grafts.