Abstract

Background
Bone marrow-derived stem cell transplantation is a potentially viable therapeutic option for the treatment of neurodegenerative disease.
Material and Method
We have isolated bone marrow stem cells by standard method. We then evaluated the survival of rats' bone marrow mononuclear cells implanted in rats' brain. The cells were extracted from rats' femurs, and marked for monitoring purposes by adenoviral transduction with Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP). Labeled cells were implanted within the area of rats' striatum lesions that were induced a month earlier employing quinolinic acid-based method. The implants were phenotyped by monitoring CD34; CD38; CD45 and CD90 expression. Bone marrow stromal cells were extracted from rats' femurs and cultivated until monolayer bone marrow stromal cells were obtained. The ability of bone marrow stromal cells to express NGF and GDNF was evaluated by RT-PCR.
Results
Implanted cells survived for at least one month after transplantation and dispersed from the area of injection towards corpus callosum and brain cortex. Interestingly, passaged rat bone marrow stromal cells expressed NGF and GDNF mRNA.
Conclusions
The bone marrow cells could be successfully transplanted to the brain either for the purpose of trans-differentiation, or for the expression of desired growth factors.

Keywords: Quinolinic Acid, Staining and Labeling, Neurons - metabolism, Nerve Growth Factors - metabolism, Leukocytes, Mononuclear - virology, Graft Survival, Gene Expression Regulation, Brain Tissue Transplantation, Brain - pathology, Bone Marrow Cells - cytology, Biological Markers - metabolism, Antigens, CD - metabolism, Adenoviridae, Stem Cell Transplantation, Time Factors