Event Abstract Back to Event Functional and morphological integration of embryonic spinal cord grafts into the circuitry of the injured lumbar cord Antal Nógrádi1*, Andrea Szabo1, Gabor Marton1 and Urszula Sławinska2 1 Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology PAS, Poland 2 Department of Ophthalmology, University of Szeged, Hungary Previous studies have shown that embryonic motoneurones transplanted into the host spinal cord survive, extend their axons into a peripheral nerve conduit and reinnervate the denervated muscles. In this study we investigated whether grafted motoneurones that reinnervated hindlimb muscles via a reimplanted ventral root were able to establish the appropriate connections with the neurones of the host spinal cord and thus to integrate into the circuitry of the host spinal cord. The experiments were performed on adult rats in which the L4 ventral root was avulsed from the spinal cord and gently reinserted into the host cord. In addition to this procedure motoneurone-enriched embryonic spinal cord tissue was grafted into the L4 segment close to the place of the reimplanted ventral root. In control animals only the L4 ventral root was avulsed and reimplanted. After 5-6 months survival the EMG activity of the Extensor Digitorum Longus (EDL), Tibialis Anterior and Soleus muscles was recorded and analyzed. The analysis of the EMG activity recorded during locomotion showed that in animals that had received a graft of embryonic motoneurones the activity of individual muscles corresponded with the appropriate phase of step cycle and was not different from that seen in intact rats. The muscles were activated at the right time during either rest or locomotion and the pattern of their activity was appropriate to the function they were involved in. Such activity, rich in single motor unit potentials, was absent in ungrafted animals. When EMG recording was completed, the reinnervating motoneurones were retrogradely labelled from the EDL muscle and the connections of the graft were traced. Axons of host neurons established abundant synaptic connections with the neurones of the graft. The reinnervating grafted cells resided in the periphery of the graft. Our results suggest that the grafted motoneurones, which were at a very early stage of development when transplanted into the adult spinal cord, are able to integrate into the host's circuitry to produce a pattern of muscle activity appropriate to the function they are involved. Conference: 12th Meeting of the Hungarian Neuroscience Society, Budapest, Hungary, 22 Jan - 24 Jan, 2009. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Pathophysiology and neurology - degenerative disorders Citation: Nógrádi A, Szabo A, Marton G and Sławinska U (2009). Functional and morphological integration of embryonic spinal cord grafts into the circuitry of the injured lumbar cord. Front. Syst. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: 12th Meeting of the Hungarian Neuroscience Society. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.01.2009.04.166 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 05 Mar 2009; Published Online: 05 Mar 2009. * Correspondence: Antal Nógrádi, Department of Neurophysiology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology PAS, Granz, Poland, nogradi.antal@med.u-szeged.hu Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Antal Nógrádi Andrea Szabo Gabor Marton Urszula Sławinska Google Antal Nógrádi Andrea Szabo Gabor Marton Urszula Sławinska Google Scholar Antal Nógrádi Andrea Szabo Gabor Marton Urszula Sławinska PubMed Antal Nógrádi Andrea Szabo Gabor Marton Urszula Sławinska Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.