Fate and behavior of genetically labeled cerebellar cells after transplantation into mouse cerebellum.

A foreign gene coding the bacterial enzyme, chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT), was introduced into a primary culture of the mouse cerebellar primordium by a retrovirus vector which harbors the neomycin-resistant gene. Following selection of the gene-transferred cells based on neomycin resistance, most of the selected cells expressed the CAT gene product as well as a marker for astrocytes, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), when examined immunocytochemically. These cells were transplanted into the adult mouse cerebellum, and the surviving cells were examined immunohistochemically by marking them with anti-CAT antibody. The distribution of CAT-immunopositive cells coincided with that of GFAP-immunopositive cells observed in serial sections of grafted sites at 10 days after transplantation. Some of the transplanted CAT-immunopositive cells extended processes and exhibited the morphological appearance of fibrous astrocytes. Migration of the genetically labeled cells into the host molecular layer was also observed and the morphological plasticity of the differentiated primary cells was shown according to the grafted sites. These results indicate that stable marking of cells for grafting can be accomplished by retrovirus-mediated introduction of a foreign gene into the primary culture, and that the fate and behavior of the labeled donor cells can be analyzed immunohistochemically following transplantation into neural tissue.