Hereditary cerebellar ataxias are severe diseases for which therapy is currently not sufficiently effective. One of the possible therapeutic approaches could be neurotransplantation. Lurcher mutant mice are a natural model of olivocerebellar degeneration representing a tool to investigate its pathogenesis as well as experimental therapies for hereditary cerebellar ataxias. The effect of intracerebellar transplantation of embryonic cerebellar solid tissue or cell suspension on motor performance in adult Lurcher mutant and healthy wild-type mice was studied. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor level was measured in the graft and adult cerebellar tissue. Gait analysis and rotarod, horizontal wire, and wooden beam tests were carried out 2 or 6 months after the transplantation. Higher level of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor was found in the Lurcher cerebellum than in the embryonic and adult wild-type tissue. A mild improvement of gait parameters was found in graft-treated Lurcher mice. The effect was more marked in cell suspension grafts than in solid transplants and after the longer period than after the short one. Lurcher mice treated with cell suspension and examined 6 months later had a longer hind paw stride (4.11 vs. 3.73 mm, P < 0.05) and higher swing speed for both forepaws (52.46 vs. 32.79 cm/s, P < 0.01) and hind paws (63.46 vs. 43.67 cm/s, P < 0.001) than controls. On the other hand, classical motor tests were not capable of detecting clearly the change in the motor performance. No strong long-lasting negative effect of the transplantation was seen in wild-type mice, suggesting that the treatment has no harmful impact on the healthy cerebellum.

Department of Histology and Embryology Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen Charles University Prague Karlovarska 48 301 66 Plzen Czech Republic

Department of Medical Chemistry and Biochemistry Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen Charles University Prague Karlovarska 48 301 66 Plzen Czech Republic

Department of Nutrition and Centre for Research on Diabetes Metabolism and Nutrition 3rd Faculty of Medicine Charles University Prague Ruska 87 100 00 Praha 10 Czech Republic

Department of Pathophysiology Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen Charles University Prague alej Svobody 1655 76 323 00 Plzen Czech Republic

Laboratory of Neurodegenerative Disorders Biomedical Center Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen Charles University Prague alej Svobody 1655 76 323 00 Plzen Czech Republic

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