Trauma-induced striatal CNTF and BDNF mRNA in... : NeuroReport (original) (raw)

Regeneration and Transplantation

Trauma-induced striatal CNTF and BDNF mRNA in hemiparkinsonian rats

Plunkett, Robert J.1,5; Ip, Nancy Y.2,3; Asada, Hideo4; Friedman, Beth2; Pan, Li2; Kaseloo, Paul A.1; Parfitt, Margaret M.1

1Department of Neurosurgery, SUNY at Buffalo and Veterans Administration Medical Center, Buffalo General Hospital E-2, 100 High St., Buffalo, NY 14203

2Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Tarrytown, NY, USA.

3Present address: Department of Biology, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Hong Kong

4Present address: Laboratory of Neurochemistry, National Institute for Physiological Sciences, Myodaiji, Okazaki 444, Japan

5Corresponding Author: Robert J. Plunkett.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:The authors wish to thank Paul Dressel for his help with the figures, Dr Charles Berenson for use of the densitomiter, and Nestor Barrezueta and Joyce McClain for excellent technical assistance. This work was supported by a Merit Review Grant (355-42-3981-1) to R.J.P.

Received 13 September 1996; accepted 1 October 1996

Abstract

SURGICAL implantation of tissues into the brain causes trauma to the region receiving the graft. This study shows that real or simulated striatal trauma in hemiparkinsonian rats leads to increased expression of two trophic factor mRNAs: ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). The baseline expression of BDNF mRNA was also markedly lower in dopamine-depleted striatum than in normal striatum in non-traumatized (control) hemiparkinsonian rats. Striatal CNTF message was relatively symmetrical in the non-traumatized (control) hemiparkinsonian rats. Host production of these and other trophic factors may play important roles in the response to tissue grafting, to enhance graft survival and as a stimulus to regenerative collateral axonal sprouting.