2.10. Quinolinic acid striatal lesions and neural transplantation

Quinolinic acid is a relatively selective MSN toxin, sparing most of the interneuron populations (Schwarcz and Kohler, 1983, Schwarcz et al., 1983, Beal et al., 1986). Animals (CD1 mice and Sprague-Dawley rats) received unilateral injection of 45 nmol quinolinic acid into the right striatum, and transplantation was carried out at 10–14 days post-quinolinic acid lesion as per Kelly et al. (2007). For mouse E14 WGE transplants into the host adult mouse lesioned striatum, 250,000 cells were resuspended in 2 μL and stereotactically injected over 2 min. For human WGE transplants into the host adult rat lesioned striatum, 500,000 cells were resuspended in 2 μL and stereotactically injected over 2 min.

Animals were housed in a natural light-dark cycle with access to food and water ad libitum. All surgery was performed under isofluorane anaesthesia and post-surgery animals were recovered in a warmed recovery chamber and received analgesia by Metacam (Boehringer Ingelheim). All animals were perfused transcardially and fixed using 1.5% paraformaldehyde solution before the brains were removed, post-fixed overnight and transferred to 25% sucrose for cryoprotection. Brains were sectioned at 40 μm on a freezing-stage microtome and sections were stored for subsequent histological analysis.