Transplantation of Nurr1‐overexpressing neural stem cells and microglia for treating parkinsonian rats

• Published in: CNS neuroscience & therapeutics Vol. 26; no. 1; pp. 55 - 65
• Main Authors: Qian, Yuan, Chen, Xiao‐Xiang, Wang, Wei, Li, Jun‐Jun, Wang, Xian‐Peng, Tang, Zhi‐Wei, Xu, Jiao‐Tian, Lin, Hai, Yang, Zhi‐Yong, Li, Li‐Yan, Song, Xiao‐Bin, Guo, Jia‐Zhi, Bian, Li‐Gong, Zhou, Lei, Lu, Di, Deng, Xing‐Li
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.01.2020; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: Basal ganglia; Cell differentiation; Central nervous system diseases; Dopamine; Glial cells; Growth factors; Hydroxylase; Immunofluorescence; Inflammation; inflammatory; Laboratory animals; Microglia; Microglial cells; Movement disorders; Neostriatum; Neural stem cells; Neurodegenerative diseases; Neuronal-glial interactions; Neurons; Nuclear receptors; nuclear receptor‐related factor 1; Nurr1 protein; Original; Parkinson's disease; Polymerase chain reaction; Proteins; Reverse transcription; Stem cell transplantation; Stem cells; Surgery; Tyrosine 3-monooxygenase; United States > US; nuclear receptor-related factor 1; Parkinson's disease; neural stem cells; microglia; inflammatory
• ISSN: 1755-5930; 1755-5949
• DOI: 10.1111/cns.13149

Background Neural stem cells (NSCs) transplantation is considered a promising treatment for Parkinson's disease. But most NSCs are differentiated into glial cells rather than neurons, and only a few of them survive after transplantation due to the inflammatory environment. Methods In this study, neural stem cells (NSCs) and microglial cells both forced with the Nurr1 gene were transplanted into the striatum of the rat model of PD. The results were evaluated through reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR), Western blot, and immunofluorescence analysis. Results The behavioral abnormalities of PD rats were improved by combined transplantation of NSCs and microglia, both forced with Nurr1. The number of tyrosine hydroxylase+ cells in the striatum of PD rats increased, and the number of Iba1+ cells decreased compared with the other groups. Moreover, the dopamine neurons differentiated from grafted NSCs could still be detected in the striatum of PD rats after 5 months. Conclusions The results suggested that transplantation of Nurr1‐overexpressing NSCs and microglia could improve the inhospitable host brain environments, which will be  a new potential strategy for the cell replacement therapy in PD.