Section Days abstract book 2010.indd - RUB Research School ...

LS_13
REPAIR OF VISUAL SYSTEM LESIONS BY NEURAL
STEM CELL POPULATIONS
Lars Roll 1,2 , Ulf Eysel 2,3 , Andreas Faissner 1,2
1
Department of Cell Morphology and Molecular Neurobiology, Faculty of Biology and
Biotechnology, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780 Bochum, Germany
2
International Graduate School of Neuroscience, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780
Bochum, Germany
3
Department of Neurophysiology, Faculty of Medicine, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 44780
Bochum, Germany
e-mail: lars.roll@rub.de
Regeneration of the central nervous system (CNS) after lesion is severely limited in
mammals. One strategy pursued to improve function in the diseased CNS is the implantation
of neural stem or progenitor cells. The visual cortex represents an appropriate model system
for regeneration and plasticity studies due to its convenient accessibility and the extensive
knowledge about synaptic plasticity and reorganisation in this region.
In a first step, laser lesions of a defined size will be inflicted to the mouse visual cortex. Mice
offer the advantage of manifold available knock-out strains. This will allow to compare the
behaviours of different cell populations on the one hand and to detect possible differences in
knock-out situations on the other hand. A particular emphasis will be given to extracellular
matrix (ECM) molecules.
Implanted cells can be identified in the host tissue by green fluorescent protein (GFP)
expression. Cell division, migration, differentiation and integration of the implanted cells will
be analysed in vivo and in vitro in organotypic slice cultures of the visual cortex. This
combined approach will yield useful information about the repair potential of neural stem
cells in cortical lesions.