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Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-20-2021
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.102827
Abstract
To repair neural circuitry following spinal cord injury (SCI), neural stem cell (NSC) transplantation has held a primary focus; however, stochastic outcomes generate challenges driven in part by NSC differentiation and tumor formation. The recent ability to generate regionally specific neurons and their support cells now allows consideration of directed therapeutic approaches with pre-differentiated and networked spinal neural cells. Here, we form encapsulated, transplantable neuronal networks of regionally matched cervical spinal motor neurons, interneurons, and oligodendrocyte progenitor cells derived through trunk-biased neuromesodermal progenitors. We direct neurite formation in alginate-based neural ribbons to generate electrically active, synaptically connected networks, characterized by electrophysiology and calcium imaging before transplantation into rodent models of contused SCI for evaluation at 10-day and 6-week timepoints. The in vivo analyses demonstrate viability and retention of interconnected synaptic networks that readily integrate with the host parenchyma to advance goals of transplantable neural circuitry for SCI treatment.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Scimemi, Annalisa; Olmsted, Zachary T.; Stigliano, Cinzia; Wolfe, Tatiana; Cibelli, Jose; Horner, Philip J.; and Paluh, Janet L., "Transplantable human motor networks as a neuron-directed strategy for spinal cord injury" (2021). Biological Sciences Faculty Scholarship. 37.
https://scholarsarchive.library.albany.edu/biology_fac_scholar/37
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This article is made available under the Scholars Archive Terms of Use.
Comments
This is the Publisher’s PDF of the following article made available by iScience: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.102827