Human iPSC-Derived GABA Ergic Precursor Cell Therapy for Chronic Epilepsy

Abstract

The goal of this project is to examine whether grafting of medial ganglionic eminence (MGE)-like precursors generated from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) into the hippocampus of rats exhibiting chronic temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) would: (1) greatly diminish the frequency and intensity of spontaneous recurrent seizures (SRS, Specific Aim 1); and (2) ameliorate learning and memory impairments and depressive-like behavior (Specific Aim 2). The work for this grant commenced from 02/04/2015 following the receipt of ACURO approval on 02/03/2015. During the past 8 months, a portion of experiments in Specific Aim 1 was performed: (1) Induction of status epilepticus (SE) in young rats through kainic acid injections to generate rats exhibiting chronic TLE typified by SRS. (2) Grafting of MGE-like precursors into the hippocampus of chronically epileptic rats. (3) Measurement of seizure-recordings through EEG recordings in chronically epileptic rats belonging to sham-grafting surgery, epilepsy-alone and grafted groups. The data collected so far suggested that animals in sham-grafting surgery and epilepsy-only groups have similar frequency and intensity of SRS, implying that sham-grafting surgery neither alleviates nor enhances the frequency and intensity of SRS. The effect of grafting on SRS will be quantified in the coming year once EEG data are collected from all experiments groups.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 01, 2015
Accession Number
AD1003348

Entities

People

  • Ashok K. Shetty

Organizations

  • Texas A&M University

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Anticonvulsants
  • Brain
  • Brain Injuries
  • Cells
  • Epilepsy
  • Frequency
  • Hippocampus
  • Intensity
  • Learning
  • Measurement
  • Medical Personnel
  • Precursors
  • Prostheses And Implants
  • Stem Cells

Fields of Study

  • Biology

Readers

  • Neuroscience

Technology Areas

  • Biotechnology