Intracerebral Transplantation of Enteric Glia.

Abstract

Today, therapies for nerve tissue regeneration are limited by several factors, including the valid source of cells, the optimal administration route, and the reproducibility of the approach. Enteric glia, the glial population in the enteric nervous system, have advantageous properties which motivate an interest in considering them as promising candidates for neuro-regenerative medicine. Research in this direction needs to be performed in validated preclinical models of brain pathologies, of acute or neurodegenerative nature, where different cell candidates can be effectively tested. The common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) responds to these needs. This non-human primate is very close to humans in terms of brain anatomy and function.In this methodological chapter, we describe in detail the validity of the common marmoset as a preclinical model to test the safety of enteric glia transplantation. Specifically, we will present the method to amplify and characterize human enteric glia before transplantation and the stereotactic intracerebral injection of them into the perilesional brain regions in a preclinical model of ischemic stroke, whose validity for regenerative medicine strategies will be provided.