[Migration of donor Purkinje cells in the host adult rat cerebellum].

It is considered that cell adhesion molecules play important roles in the host-graft interaction during the reconstruction of the injured nervous system by neural transplantation. In this article, we report the expression of such molecules during the migration and differentiation of donor Purkinje cells in the adult rat cerebellum. Cerebellar primordium at the 14th day of gestation was transplanted into the adult rat cerebellum. Purkinje cells which had migrated from the grafted tissue into the host molecular layer were identified immunohistochemically with anti-spot 35 antibody, a specific marker for Purkinje cells in the cerebellum, as well as by labeling them with bromodeoxyuridine at their final mitotic period. In the grafted site, transient expression of a neuron-glia cell adhesion molecule, tenascin, was detected immunohistochemically. This molecule was expressed in the host tissue adjacent to the migratory Purkinje cells as well as within the donor immature tissue. Tenascin was not detected in the host tissue far distant from the grafted tissue. In considering the expression of tenascin in the migratory process of Purkinje cells during cerebellar development, this molecule induced in the host tissue may be involved in the migration of donor Purkinje cells.