Electroporation transfection as an effective tool to trace transplanted NSCs in adult central nervous system

Neural stem cells, which are clonogenic cells with self-renewal and multilineage differentiation properties, are currently considered as powerful candidates for cell replacement therapy in neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's disease. A key issue is whether stem cells can survive, migrate and differentiate following transplantation into the adult central nervous system. This research shows that enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) plasmid electroporation transfected neural stem cells can functionally differentiate in vitro and that most of the EGFP-positive cells can survive and migrate towards the damaged areas when transplanted into the brain of a Parkinson's disease model rat. The results suggest an effective and maneuverable tracing tool to detect whether transplanted neural stem and progenitor cells function in the adult brain in vivo.