Laurie C. Doering*, John C. Roder#,and Jeffrey T. Henderson#

* Division of Anatomy, Faculty of Health Sciences,McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8N-3Z5
# Program in Development and Fetal Health, SamuelLunenfeld Research Institute,
   Mount Sinai Hospital, 600 UniversityAve., Toronto, Ontario M5G-1X5

Developmental Brain Research,89, pp. 56-66, 1995

Abstract

Survival and differentiation of a sympathoadrenal progenitor cell line (termed MAH), transduced with av-myc oncogene, was studied subsequent to transplantation in the peripheral and central nervous system of adult rats. In the brain, MAH cell survival depends on the secretion of ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) by co-grafts of genetically modified glioma cells. No trophic factor supplement was required for development of the MAH cells in the peripheral nerve environment. Transplanted progenitor cells withdrew from the cell cycle within 48 hour and differentiated into a prominent population of large sympathetic-like neurons. These neurons expressed the alpha subunit of the CNTF receptor and appropriate spatial distributions of cytoskeletal proteins and catecholaminer elated enzymes. The results identify a role for CNTF in the developmentof the sympathoadrenal cell lineage and support the concept of immortalized progenitor cells as alternatives to primary cells for cell replacement strategies in the nervous system. 

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