Glutamatergic regulation of long-term grafts of fetal lateral ganglionic eminence in a rat model of Huntington's disease

N Hussain; B.A Flumerfelt; N Rajakumar

Neurobiology of Disease (Apr 2004)

Glutamatergic regulation of long-term grafts of fetal lateral ganglionic eminence in a rat model of Huntington's disease

N Hussain,
B.A Flumerfelt,
N Rajakumar

Affiliations

N Hussain: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada N6A 5C1; Department of Psychiatry, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada N6A 5C1
B.A Flumerfelt: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada N6A 5C1; Department of Psychiatry, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada N6A 5C1
N Rajakumar: Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada N6A 5C1; Department of Psychiatry, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada N6A 5C1

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 15, no. 3
pp. 648 – 653

Abstract

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Transplanting fetal striatal tissue is currently considered to be an important alternative strategy in the treatment of Huntington's disease. Although grafted striatal tissue differentiates and shows certain structural and neurochemical features of the normal striatum and receives host afferents, it is not clear whether host-derived afferent inputs can modulate the activity of neurotransmitter receptors and their signaling in the graft. An intricate interaction between dopaminergic and glutamatergic systems is pivotal for striatal function. In the present study, the modulation of D2 receptors in the graft by host-derived glutamatergic afferents via NMDA receptors was investigated using haloperidol-induced c-Fos expression. The results indicate that haloperidol induces c-Fos in a large number of neurons in the P-zones of the graft and this induction is significantly suppressed by pretreatment with the NMDA receptor antagonist, MK-801. Therefore, the NMDA receptor-mediated modulation of D2 receptor function seen in the normal striatum is established in the striatostriatal grafts.

Published in Neurobiology of Disease

ISSN: 0969-9961 (Print); 1095-953X (Online)
Publisher: Elsevier
Country of publisher: United States
LCC subjects: Medicine: Internal medicine: Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry
Website: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/neurobiology-of-disease

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