Myelin-Independent Therapeutic Potential of Canine Glial-Restricted Progenitors Transplanted in Mouse Model of Dysmyelinating Disease

Background: Dysfunction of glia contributes to the deterioration of the central nervous system in a wide array of neurological disorders, thus global replacement of glia is very attractive. Human glial-restricted precursors (hGRPs) transplanted intraventricularly into neonatal mice extensively migrated and rescued the lifespan in half of the studied mice, whereas mouse GRPs (mGRPs) presented no therapeutic benefit. We studied in the same experimental setting canine GRPs (cGRP) to determine whether their therapeutic potential falls between hGRPs and mGRPs. Additional motivation for the selection of cGRPs was a potential for use in veterinary medicine. Methods: cGRPs were extracted from the brain of dog fetuses. The cells were transplanted into the anterior or posterior aspect of the lateral ventricle (LV) of neonatal, immunodeficient, dysmyelinated mice (Mbp(shi), Rag2 KO; shiv/rag2). Outcome measures included early cell biodistribution, animal survival and myelination assessed with MRI, immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy. Results: Grafting of cGRP into posterior LV significantly extended animal survival, whereas no benefit was observed after anterior LV transplantation. In contrast, myelination of the corpus callosum was more prominent in anteriorly transplanted animals. Conclusions: The extended survival of animals after transplantation of cGRPs could be explained by the vicinity of the transplant near the brain stem.