Ortega J D, Sagen J
Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Illinois at Chicago 60612.
Exp Brain Res. 1993;95(3):381-7. doi: 10.1007/BF00227130.
A simple chamber and an inexpensive superfusion system for studying mammalian brain slices containing neural transplants is described. With this method, rat brain slices containing bovine chromaffin cell transplants can be maintained for several hours, allowing for the determination of neurochemical characteristics and pharmacologic responsiveness of the grafted cells. Using this technique, basal and nicotine-stimulated release of metenkephalin from rat periaqueductal gray slices containing bovine chromaffin cell transplants were measured. Results showed that met-enkephalin release can be increased by nicotinic stimulation in slices containing chromaffin cell, but not control implants, for at least 8 weeks postimplantation. Furthermore, this response was dose-related. These results are in good agreement with previous behavioral studies and provide corroborative evidence for the mechanism of pain reduction by the release of opioid peptides from chromaffin cell transplants in the periaqueductal gray. This study demonstrates that neurochemical and pharmacologic analyses of neural transplants using a superfused brain slice method can be a complementary approach in determining the underlying mechanisms of neural transplants in the central nervous system.
本文描述了一种用于研究含有神经移植体的哺乳动物脑片的简易腔室和廉价的灌流系统。通过这种方法，含有牛嗜铬细胞移植体的大鼠脑片可以维持数小时，从而能够确定移植细胞的神经化学特征和药理反应性。利用该技术，测定了来自含有牛嗜铬细胞移植体的大鼠导水管周围灰质切片中脑啡肽的基础释放和尼古丁刺激释放。结果表明，在植入后至少8周内，含有嗜铬细胞的切片中，烟碱刺激可增加脑啡肽的释放，而对照植入物则无此现象。此外，这种反应与剂量相关。这些结果与先前的行为学研究结果高度一致，并为导水管周围灰质中嗜铬细胞移植体释放阿片肽减轻疼痛的机制提供了确证。本研究表明，使用灌流脑片法对神经移植体进行神经化学和药理学分析，可以作为确定中枢神经系统神经移植体潜在机制的一种补充方法。
