Neurons Differentiated from Transplanted Stem Cells Respond Functionally to Acoustic Stimuli in the Awake Monkey Brain

作者：Jingkuan Wei, Wenchao Wang, Rongwei Zhai, Yuhua Zhang, Shangchuan Yang, Joshua D. Rizak, Ling Li, Liqi Xu, Li Liu, Ming-ke Pan, Yingzhou Hu, Abdelaziz Ghanemi, Jing Wu, Lichuan Yang, Hao Li, Longbao Lv, Jiali Li, Yong‐Gang Yao, Lin Xu, Xiao-li Feng, Yong Yin, Dongdong Qin, Xintian Hu, Zhengbo Wang · 发表于：Cell Reports · 年份：2016 · DOI：10.1016/j.celrep.2016.06.066 · 被引用次数：22 · 研究领域：Neurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanisms、Hearing, Cochlea, Tinnitus, Genetics、Pluripotent Stem Cells Research

Here, we examine whether neurons differentiated from transplanted stem cells can integrate into the host neural network and function in awake animals, a goal of transplanted stem cell therapy in the brain. We have developed a technique in which a small "hole" is created in the inferior colliculus (IC) of rhesus monkeys, then stem cells are transplanted in situ to allow for investigation of their integration into the auditory neural network. We found that some transplanted cells differentiated into mature neurons and formed synaptic input/output connections with the host neurons. In addition, c-Fos expression increased significantly in the cells after acoustic stimulation, and multichannel recordings indicated IC specific tuning activities in response to auditory stimulation. These results suggest that the transplanted cells have the potential to functionally integrate into the host neural network.