Intrastriatal Transplantation of GDNF-engineered BMSCs and its neuroprotection in Lactacystin-induced Parkinsonian Rat Model

The potential value of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) in treating Parkinson's disease (PD) remains controversial. In order to evaluate the therapeutic effect of GDNF-engineered bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) in parkinsonian rat model, GDNF-BMSCs and LacZ-BMSCs were transplanted into striatum and followed by Lactacystin lesioning at median forebrain bundles 1 week later. We observed that the intrastriatal transplantation of GDNF-BMSCs could significantly rescue the dopaminergic neurons from lactacystin-induced neurotoxicity with regard to behavioral recovery, tyrosine hydroxylase level in nigra and striatum, and striatal dopamine level. We interpret the outcomes that intrastriatal transplantation of GDNF-BMSCs might be beneficial in the treatment of PD.