Culture and transplantation of the mammalian circadian pacemaker

In transplantation studies using the tau mutation in the golden hamster, it has been demonstrated that suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) pacemaker cells and mechanisms of communication with the host brain are retained even after tissue dissociation and maintenance for many weeks in primary cell culture. Brain grafts of cultured SCN cells are capable of restoring overt rhythms of locomotor activity, and preliminary studies where cells from two tau genotypes are combined in a single graft demonstrate that pacemaker cells may communicate with each other to produce coherent rhythms with intermediate periods. The opportunity is presented, therefore, to study pacemaker-pacemaker communication in circadian chimeras produced by SCN transplantation. Immunocytochemical analysis of graft-host interactions requires the positive identification of host versus donor cells. Although grafted blocks of tissue are easily recognized during immunocytochemical analysis, implants of dissociated and cultured cells may be more diffusely located and are not as readily identified. Unless distinct strain- or species-specific markers are available, it is difficult to identify connections that may carry timing information to the host organism. We have taken an anatomical approach that utilizes cell-labeling techniques for hamster tissue along with foreign protein expression in transgenic mice to identify patterns of communication among graft and host cells, focusing specifically on SCN-SCN communication. The data indicate the usefulness of these transgenes as markers in transplantation studies where communication between graft and host is addressed.