Wise Young
06-13-2003, 02:45 AM
• Misiuta I, McGrogan M, Willing A, Sanberg P and Zigova T (2003). Can the developing striatum effect the dopaminergic features of hNT neurons in vitro? J Neurochem 85 Suppl 2:18. Summary: Our laboratory is investigating the dopaminergic (DA) characteristics of the human, neuronally committed hNT cells for the DA replenishment therapies, like Parkinson's disease. Recent in vitro experiments indicated that hNT cells express markers typical of DA neurons in the substania nigra (SN) including tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), aldehyde dehydrogenase and transcription factor Nurr1. Even though up to 50% of cultured hNT neurons express TH, the long-term maintenance of DA phenotype may depend on additional factors. Since the striatum is a target tissue for DA neurons in the SN, the goal of the present study is to examine the effect of the developing striatum on the TH expression of hNT neurons in a simplified coculture system. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Supported by the Shimberg Scholar Award. Center for Aging and Brain Repair, Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Department of Neurosurgery, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA; Layton BioScience, Sunnyvale, CA, USA, imisiuta@hsc.usf.edu