Calcium-dependent adhesion is necessary for the maintenance of prosomeres.

Cell adhesion has been suggested to function in the establishment and maintenance of the segmental organization of the central nervous system. Here we tested the role of different classes of adhesion molecules in prosencephalic segmentation. Specifically, we examined the ability of progenitors from different prosomeres to reintegrate and differentiate within various brain regions after selective maintenance or removal of different classes of calcium-dependent versus -independent surface molecules. This analysis implicates calcium-dependent adhesion molecules as central to the maintenance of prosomeres. Only conditions that spared calcium-dependent adhesion systems but ablated more general (calcium-independent) adhesion systems resulted in prosomere-specific integration after transplantation. Among the members of this class of adhesion molecules, R-cadherin shows a striking pattern of prosomeric expression during development. To test whether expression of this molecule was sufficient to direct progenitor integration to prosomeres expressing R-cadherin, we used a retroviral-mediated gain-of-function approach. We found that progenitors originally isolated from prosomere P2 (a region which does not express R-cadherin), when forced to express this molecule, can now integrate more readily into R-cadherin-expressing regions, such as the cortex, the ventral thalamus, and the hypothalamus. Nonetheless, our analysis suggests that while calcium-dependent molecules are able to direct prosomere-specific integration, they are not sufficient to induce progenitors to change their regional identity. While diencephalic progenitors from R-cadherin-expressing regions of prosomere 5 could integrate into R-cadherin-expressing regions of the cortex, they did not express the cortex-specific gene Emx1 or the telencephalic-specific gene Bf-1. Furthermore, diencephalic progenitors that integrate heterotopically into the cortex do not persist postnatally, whereas the same progenitors survive and differentiate when they integrate homotopically into the diencephalon. Together our results implicate calcium-dependent adhesion molecules as key mediators of prosomeric organization but suggest that they are not sufficient to bestow regional identities.

Isolation and intracerebral grafting of nontransformed multipotential embryonic human CNS stem cells.

In this work, we show that the embryonic human brain contains multipotent central nervous system (CNS) stem cells, which may provide a continuous, standardized source of human neurons that could virtually eliminate the use of primary human fetal brain tissue for intracerebral transplantation. Multipotential stem cells can be isolated from the developing human CNS in a reproducible fashion and can be exponentially expanded for longer than 2 years. This allows for the establishment of continuous, nontransformed neural cell lines, which can be frozen and banked. By clonal analysis, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, and electrophysiological assay, we found that over such long-term culturing these cells retain both multipotentiality and an unchanged capacity for the generation of neuronal cells, and that they can be induced to differentiate into catechlaminergic neurons. Finally, when transplanted into the brain of adult rodents immunosuppressed by cyclosporin A, human CNS stem cells migrate away from the site of injection and differentiate into neurons and astrocytes. No tumor formation was ever observed. Aside from depending on scarce human neural fetal tissue, the use of human embryonic CNS stem cells for clinical neural transplantation should provide a reliable solution to some of the major problems that pertain to this field, and should allow determination of the safety characteristics of the donor cells in terms of tumorigenicity, viability, sterility, and antigenic compatibility far in advance of the scheduled day of surgery.

Embryonic origin and fate of chondroid tissue and secondary cartilages in the avian skull.

BACKGROUND: Chondroid tissue is an intermediate calcified tissue, mainly involved in desmocranial morphogenesis. Often associated with secondary cartilages, it remained of unprecise embryonic origin. METHODS: The latter was studied by performing isotopic isochronic grafts of quail encephalon onto 30 chick embryos. The so-obtained chimeras were sacrificed at the 9th, 12th, and 14th day of incubation. The contribution of graft- and host-derived cells to the histogenesis of chondroid tissue, bone, and secondary cartilages was analyzed on both microradiographs of thick undecalcified sections and on classical histological sections after several DNA or ECM specific staining procedures. RESULTS: Chondroid tissue is deposited in the primitive anlage of all membranous bones of the avian skull. Also present on their sutural edges, it uniformly arises from the neural crest. In the face, bone and secondary cartilages share this mesectodermal origin. However, secondary cartilages located along the basal chondrocranium and bone formed on the chondroid primordium of the cranial vault, originate from the cephalic mesoderm. CONCLUSIONS: These facts provide evidence that chondroid tissue arises from a specific differentiation of neural crest derived cells and that this original skeletogenic program differs from that of secondary chondrogenesis. Moreover, they obviously indicate that in membraneous bone ontogenesis, chondroid tissue replaces functions devoted to mesodermal primary cartilages of the cranial base, and so corroborates at the tissue level, the dual embryonic and phyletic origin of the skull.

Further observations on the susceptibility of diencephalic prosomeres to En-2 induction and on the resulting histogenetic capabilities.

It has been previously shown by chick/quail heterotopic grafts that En-2 expression and a mesencephalic phenotype can be induced within the avian primordial prosencephalic vesicle, although the induction appeared restricted to the caudal forebrain. The present experiments were aimed at further analyzing the competence of the prosencephalic neuroepithelium. Different types of grafts were performed between chick and quail embryos: (i) caudal forebrain grafts positioned in the midbrain/hindbrain junction (the En-2-positive domain); (ii) En-2-positive grafts integrated at different levels of the forebrain. In both cases, the grafts were transplanted either with a normal orientation or after inversion of their rostro-caudal axis. The chimeric embryos were analyzed at stages HH19-24 for expression of En-2 and Pax-6 homeobox-containing genes, normally expressed in the meso-isthmo-cerebellar and prosencephalic domains, respectively. A cytoarchitectonic analysis of grafted and surrounding host tissue was also performed at later developmental stages in chimeric embryos with caudal forebrain grafts. Our results show that the caudal diencephalon, including the prospective territories for prosomeres 1 and 2, is competent to express En-2 when in close contact to the En-2 polarizing region, whereas the more rostral neuroepithelium, including the prospective territories for the third prosomere and telencephalon, does not change its fate under similar conditions. The ectopic-induced neuroepithelium can develop mesencephalon, but also isthmus and cerebellum according to its site of integration rostrally or caudally to the mesencephalic/isthmo-cerebellar boundary. Our data also show that within the competent diencephalon, the induced En-2 expression can be arrested at the P1/P2 interneuromeric boundary. This arrest appears to be directionally oriented as it only takes place when the induction is produced within prosomere 1 but not when it comes from prosomere 2. These data can be considered as resulting from either a possible oriented permissiveness of cells which form the boundary separating prosomeres 1 and 2, or of a different permissiveness of the cells composing these two caudal prosomeres.

Bilateral fetal grafts for Parkinson's disease: 22 months' results.

Five patients with severe Parkinson's disease underwent bilateral multiple graft implants of nondissociated fetal mesodiencephalic tissues. Graft implantation was performed in China following CT-guided stereotactic placement of a novel delivery system. Follow-up has demonstrated substantially reduced levodopa requirements and clinical improvements of motor, postural functions and reduction of freezing and on-off phenomenon. PET utilizing [18F]-dopa, at 14 months in the first case, suggested graft-induced restoration of dopaminergic transmission in the striatum.

Influence of grafting a smaller target muscle on the magnitude of naturally occurring trochlear motor neuron death during development.

About half of the motor neurons produced by some neural centers die during the course of normal development. It is thought that the size of the target muscle determines the number of surviving motor neurons. Previously, we tested the role of target size in limiting the number of survivors by forcing neurons to innervate a larger target (Sohal et al., '86). Results did not support the size-matching hypothesis because quail trochlear motor neurons innervating duck superior oblique muscle were not rescued. We have now performed the opposite experiment, i.e., forcing neurons to innervate a smaller target. By substituting the embryonic forebrain region of the duck with the same region of the quail before cell death begins, chimera embryos were produced that had a smaller quail superior oblique muscle successfully innervated by the trochlear motor neurons of the duck. The number of surviving trochlear motor neurons in chimeras was significantly higher than in the normal quail but less than in the normal duck. The smaller target resulted in some additional loss of neurons, suggesting that the target size may regulate neuron survival to a limited extent. Failure to achieve neuron loss corresponding to the reduction in target size suggests that there must be other factors that regulate neuron numbers during development.

A new approach to the development of the cerebellum provided by the quail-chick marker system.

We have used the quail-chick chimera system to reveal the cell migrations and settling pattern involved in the construction of the cerebellum. Three types of orthotopic transplantations were carried out, between quail and chick embryos, at the 12-somite stage: exchanges of (i) the whole metencephalic vesicle, (ii) the lateral half of this vesicle and (iii) the diencephalic plus the mesencephalic vesicles. Histological study of chimeric embryos and young chicks provided the following results: longitudinal morphogenetic movements distort the embryonic neural tube as early as the fifth embryonic day, so that the dorsal limit of the mes-, met- and myelencephalic vesicles are displaced caudad and their ventral limits rostrad. This leads to a participation of mesencephalic vesicular material in the construction of the cerebellum. Cells originating in the mesencephalic vesicle are found in a rostromedial V-shaped region, in all the cerebellar cellular layers, except the external granular layer, the presumptive territory of which is entirely located in the metencephalic vesicle. The chimerism of the rostromedial part of the cerebellum allows the analysis of the origin of the various cerebellar cell types. We find (i) that the Purkinje cells always have the same cellular marker as the ventricular epithelium radially beneath them. This strongly suggests that these cells reach their final localization following strictly radial migrations. (ii) Most of the small cells surrounding the Purkinje neurons and most of the neurons and glial cells of the molecular layer are also of the same type as the ventricular epithelium they surmount, i.e. different from the type of the external granular layer cells. Therefore, they are not derived from the external granular layer and are not of the same origin as the granule cells as previously believed. Unilateral substitutions of the metencephalic vesicle revealed that transverse cell migrations occur across the sagittal plane. They have been observed mainly in the inner and external granular layers, but also, though to a lesser extent, in the molecular layer and in the cell layer located at the level of the Purkinje neurons. These observations show that the position of cerebellar cells is determined by both morphogenetic movements and cell type-specific active radial and tangential migrations. The quail-chick chimera system is thus able to provide new information both on the origin of cerebellar cells and how each cell type assumes its final position.

Cotransplantation of embryonic mouse retina with tectum, diencephalon, or cortex to neonatal rat cortex.

Retinae from embryonic mice were transplanted to the occipital cortex of neonatal rats together with their normal target regions, tectum or diencephalon, from embryonic mice or rats. In control experiments, retinae were cotransplanted with embryonic rat occipital cortex. In over 80% of the experimental animals, both transplants differentiated and grew. Ganglion cells in the retinae cotransplanted close to tectum or diencephalon survived for at least 15 weeks. Their survival was associated with the development of a distinct optic fiber layer and outgrowth of axons from the transplanted mouse retina. Specific innervation of distinct patches within the cotransplanted rat tectum or diencephalon was demonstrated by the use of an anti-mouse antibody. The innervated regions, which could be as far away as 1.3 mm from the retinae, were correlated with cytological features of the cotransplanted tectum or diencephalon. By contrast, the host cortex was never innervated by the transplanted retinae. In the control animals in which the retinae were cotransplanted with occipital cortex and in four animals in which the cotransplants lay more than 2.7 mm apart, no ganglion cells were identified and there was no evidence of an optic fiber layer, outgrowth of axons, or innervation. These results support the idea that in order to survive, retinal ganglion cells need to innervate an appropriate target region. Further, the specific innervation of regions within the cotransplanted tectum or diencephalon suggests that these target regions are able to exert a tropic influence on the axons of retinal ganglion cells, even in the absence of many of the normal structure cues.

Target regions enhance the outgrowth and survival of ganglion cells in embryonic retina transplanted to cerebral cortex in neonatal rats.

In embryonic mouse retina transplanted to occipital cortex of neonatal rats, ganglion cells do not project axons into the host cortex, although they may survive up to but not beyond 6 weeks post-transplantation. By contrast, if embryonic tectum or diencephalon is transplanted along with the retina, ganglion cells exhibit vigorous outgrowth to specific regions of the co-transplant and are able to survive for at least 14 weeks.

Mapping of the early neural primordium in quail-chick chimeras. II. The prosencephalic neural plate and neural folds: implications for the genesis of cephalic human congenital abnormalities.

Mapping of the avian neural primordium was carried out at the early somitic stages by substituting definite regions of the chick embryo by their quail counterpart. The quail nuclear marker made it possible to identify precisely the derivatives of the grafted areas within the chimeric cephalic structures. A fate map of the prosencephalic neural plate and neural folds is presented. Moreover the origin of the forebrain meninges from the pro- and mesencephalic neural crest is demonstrated. In the light of the data resulting from these experiments, we present a rationale for the genesis of malformations of the face and brain and of congenital endocrine abnormalities occurring in man.

Factors affecting innervation in the CNS: comparison of three cholinergic cell types transplanted to the hippocampus of adult rats.

Embryonic septal, striatal and habenular tissues were transplanted to adult hippocampi from which the native septal input had been removed. Cholinergic innervation of the host hippocampal formation was observed with each type of transplant. The pattern of innervation was comparable to the native cholinergic projection, suggesting that transmitter type is correlated with the pattern of innervation produced regardless of the origin of the innervating cells. The grafts differed, however, in their survival, their propensity to innervate the host, and the degree of innervation they produced.

Transplantation of embryonic ventral forebrain neurons to the neocortex of rats with lesions of nucleus basalis magnocellularis--I. Biochemical and anatomical observations.

Unilateral ibotenic acid lesions of the rat nucleus basalis magnocellularis produce approximately 60% depletion of choline acetyltransferase activity in ipsilateral frontal and frontoparietal neocortex. This depletion, which represents the loss of most of the extrinsic neocortical cholinergic input, is stable for at least 6 months. Embryonic ventral forebrain neurons survive transplantation to such cholinergically denervated neocortex. Cholinergic cells abound within these transplants and appear able to reinnervate the cholinergically depleted host cortex, as assessed histochemically and by measurement of choline acetyltransferase activity. Outgrowing fibres may extend beyond 2 mm from the grafts and often appear to be organized in an appropriate laminar pattern within the host cortex. Peptidergic neurons are sparse within the grafts and their fibres frequently appear unable to grow into the host tissue. Control grafts of non-cholinergic embryonic hippocampal cells survive well but have no effect on cortical depletions of acetylcholinesterase or choline acetyltransferase activity. Reconstruction of the extrinsic cholinergic input to the cortex by transplantation provides a useful tool for understanding the functions of this pathway.

Transplantation of embryonic ventral forebrain neurons to the neocortex of rats with lesions of nucleus basalis magnocellularis--II. Sensorimotor and learning impairments.

The cholinergic projection from the nucleus basalis magnocellularis to the neocortex has been implicated in normal memory function and in the dementia of Alzheimer's disease. In order to investigate functions of this cholinergic system of the forebrain, rats with unilateral ibotenic acid lesions of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis have been compared with normal animals and with rats given cortically-placed transplants, either of cholinergic-rich embryonic ventral forebrain cells or of control noncholinergic cells taken from embryonic hippocampus. In the first experiment, lesions of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis led to impairments in step-through passive avoidance and Morris' water-maze tasks, and to locomotor hyperactivity attributable to a reduction in within-trial habituation. The ventral forebrain grafts, but not the noncholinergic hippocampal grafts, significantly ameliorated the deficits of passive avoidance retention, and of water-maze spatial accuracy, but had no effect on the acquisition impairments in either task, nor on the habituation deficit in locomotor activity of the nucleus basalis magnocellularis lesioned rats. In the second experiment, the lesions induced contralateral sensory neglect and ipsilateral turning biases, which were also partially ameliorated by the ventral forebrain grafts. The results support the hypothesis that the basal forebrain-neocortical cholinergic system contributes to certain memory processes, but suggest a more general role for this system in other cortical functions also.

Neural transplantation in the spinal cord of adult rats. Conditions, survival, cytology and connectivity of the transplants.

Embryonic neural tissues of various types were transplanted into the intact, completely transected, and partially transected spinal cords of adult rats. The host animals were killed 4-6 months after the surgery, and the spinal cords and transplants examined. The best results were obtained when embryonic neocortical tissues obtained from 16-day rat embryos were used for transplantation into host animals that had been subjected to partial sectioning of the spinal cord. Use of other types of neural tissue, or transplantation of tissues into the intact or completely severed spinal cords was not successful. The successful neocortical transplants had survived, grown, differentiated, and established anatomical integration with the host spinal cords. The anatomical integration was established through an interface with the host spinal cord along the basal aspect. Along the lateral aspect glial scar tissue was present separating the transplants from the spinal cord parenchyma. The transplants contained well-differentiated and normal-looking neurons. They received afferents from the spinal cord only through the interface and not through the glial scar formations. The findings indicated that it is possible to transplant embryonic neocortical tissues into the spinal cords of the adult animals that become integrated with the spinal cord parenchyma. The axonal fibers in the adult spinal cord appear capable of regeneration and growing into the transplants only when an appropriate neural milieu, in the form of a healthy and viable interface, is available. In its absence the severed axons of the adult spinal cord do not grow into the neural transplants.