Summary
Adrenal medullary tissue from adult rats was dissociated into cell suspensions and injected into the anterior chamber of the eye, where the cells were made to attach to the previously sympathectomized irides with the use of fibronectin. Short- and long-term survival of the chromaffin cells was examined in whole mounts of irides using Falck-Hillarp fluorescence histochemistry or indirect immunohistochemistry with antibodies against adrenaline and dopamine-β-hydroxylase (DBH). After 6 days in oculo all cells were immunoreactive for adrenaline; almost none displayed processes even if β-nerve growth factor (NGF) was given at grafting. One month after weekly intraocular injections of NGF, many cells were surrounded by nerve fiber net-works and all cells were DBH-immunoreactive. Eight months postgrafting and 7 months after the last injection of NGF almost the entire iris was reinnervated and resembled a normal, sympathetically innervated iris. Both at 1 and 8 months, chromaffin cells, ganglion cells and transitional cell forms (chromaffin cells transforming towards ganglion-like cells) were found in irides from the NGF-treated eyes. The number of ganglion cells was remarkably increased with time by NGF, while the number of chromaffin cells decreased compared to controls. A single treatment with NGF at grafting had no marked effects as examined up to 3 months; at this time there was a certain outgrowth of nerve terminals, which, however, was not as pronounced as 1 month after repeated NGF injections. In conclusion, it is shown that some cells in a chromaffin cell suspension attach to the iris, transform to ganglion cells after an induction with exogenous NGF, and reinnervate the sympathically denervated iris. Such cells remain ganglion-like in character and continue to form processes even after cessation of exogenous NGF treatment.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akers RM, Mosher DF, Lilien JE (1981) Promotion of neurite outgrowth by substratum-bound fibronectin. Dev Biol 86:179–188
Aloe L, Levi-Montalcini R (1979) Nerve growth factor induced transformation of immature chromaffin cells in vivo into sympathetic neurons: Effect of antiserum to nerve growth factor. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 76:1246–1250
Backlund E-O, Granberg PO, Hamberger B, Knutsson E, Mårtenson A, Sedvall G, Seiger Å, Olson L (1985) Transplantation of adrenal medullary tissue to striatum in parkinsonism. First clinical trials. J Neurosurg 62:169–173
Coons AH (1958) Fluroescent antibody methods. In: Danielli JF (ed) General cytochemical methods, Vol 1. Academic Press, New York, pp 399–422
Costa M, Buffa R, Furness JB, Solcia E (1980) Immunohistochemical localization of polypeptides in peripheral autonomic nerves using whole mount preparations. Histochemistry 65:157–165
Coupland RE (1965) The Natural History of the Chromaffin Cell. Langmans, London, pp 47–87
Coupland RE (1972) The chromaffin system. In: Blaschko H, Muscholl E (eds) Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology Vol. XXXIII, Catecholamines, pp 16–45, Springer, Berlin Heidelberg New York
Doupé AJ, Landis SC, Patterson PH (1985) Environmental influences in the development of neural crest derivatives: glucocorticoids, growth factors, and chromaffin cell plasticity. J Neurosci 5:2119–2142
Ebendal T, Olson L, Seiger Å, Hedlund K-O (1980) Nerve growth factors in the rat iris. Nature 286:25–28
Ebendal T, Olson L, Seiger Å (1983) The level of nerve growth factor as a function of innervation: A correlative radioimmunoassay and bioassay study of the rat iris. Exp Cell Res 148:311–317
Ebendal T, Olson L, Seiger Å, Belew M (1984) Nerve growth factors in chick and rat tissues. In: Black IB (ed) Cellular and molecular biology of neuronal development. Plenum Press, New York, pp 231–242
Falck B, Hillarp N-Å, Thieme G, Torp A (1962) Fluorescence of catecholamines and related compounds condensed with formaldehyde. J Histochem Cytochem 10:348–354
Freed WJ, Morihisa JM, Spoor E, Hoffer B, Olson L, Seiger Å, Wyatt R (1981) Transplanted adrenal chromaffin cells in rat brain reduce lesion-induced rotational behaviour. Nature 292:351–352
Freed WJ, Cannon-Spoor HE, Krauthamer E (1986) Intrastriatal adrenal medulla grafts in rats: Long-term survival and behavioral effects. J Neurosurg 65:664–670
Greene LA, McGuire JC (1978) Induction of ornithine decarboxylase by nerve growth factor dissociated from effects on survival and neurite outgrowth. Nature 276:191–193
Hedin U, Thyberg J (1987) Plasma fibronectin promotes modulation of arterial smooth muscle cells from contractile to synthetic phenotype. Differentiation 33:239–246
Herrera-Marschitz M, Strömberg I, Olsson D, Olson L, Ungerstedt U (1984) Adrenal medullary implants in the dopamine-denervated rat striatum. II. Rotational behavior during the first seven hours as a function of graft amount and location and its modulation by neuroleptics. Brain Res 297:53–61
Hillarp N-Å, Hökfelt B (1953) Evidence of adrenaline and noradrenaline in separate adrenal medullary cells. Acta Physiol Scand 30:55–68
Johnson GD, De C Nogueira-Araujo GM (1981) A simple method of reducing the fading of immunofluorescence during microscopy. J Immunol Methods 43:349–350
Kohn A (1902) Das chromaffine Gewebe. Z ges Anat 3, Ergebn Anat Entwickl-Gesch 12:253–348
Kohn A (1903) Die Paraganglien. Arch Mikrosk Anat 62:263–365
Korsching S, Auburger G, Heumann R, Scott J, Thoenen H (1985) Levels of nerve growth factor and its mRNA in the central nervous system of the rat correlate with cholinergic innervation. EMBO J 4:1389–1393
Levi-Montalcini R, Aloe L (1980) Tropic, trophic, and transforming effects of nerve growth factor. Adv Biochem Psychopharmacol 25:3–15
Levi-Montalcini R, Angeletti PU (1968) Nerve growth factor. Physiol Rev 48:534–569
Lindvall O, Backlund E-O, Farde L, Sedvall G, Freedman R, Hoffer B, Nobin A, Seiger Å, Olson L (1987) Transplantation in Parkinson's disease: two cases of adrenal medullary grafts to the putamen. Ann Neurol 22:457–468
Madrazo I, Drucker-Colin R, Diaz V, Martinez-Mata J, Torres C, Becarril JJ (1987) Open microimplantation of graft of adreneral medulla to the right caudate nucleus in two patients with intractable Parkinson's disease. N Engl J Med 316:831–834
Müller TH, Unsicker K (1981) High-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection as a highly efficient tool for studying catecholaminergic systems. I. Quantification of noradrenaline, adrenaline and dopamine in cultured adrenal medullary cells. J Neurosci Methods 4:39–52
Olson L (1970) Fluorescence histochemical evidence for axonal growth and secretion from transplanted adrenal medullary tissue. Histochemie 22:1–7
Olson L, Hamberger B, Hoffer B, Miller R, Seiger Å (1981) Nerve fiber formation by grafted adult adrenal medullary cells. In: Stjärne L, Hedqvist P, Lagercrantz H, Wennmalm Å (eds) Chemical neurotransmission 75 years. Second Nobel Conference. Academic Press, London, pp 35–48
Rogers SL, Letourneau PC, Palm SL, McCarthy J, Furcht LT (1983) Neurite extension by peripheral and central nervous system neurons in response to substratum-bound fibronectin and laminin. Dev Biol 98:212–220
Rovasio RA, Delouvee A, Yamada KM, Timpl R, Thiery JP (1983) Neural crest cell migration: Requirements for exogenous fibronectin and high cell density. J Cell Biol 96:462–473
Ruoslahti E, Hayman EG, Piersbacher M, Engvall E (1982) Fibronectin: Purification, immunochemical properties, and biological activities. Methods Enzymol 82:803–831
Seiber-Blum M, Sieber G, Yamada KM (1981) Cellular fibronectin promotes adrenergic differentiation of quail neural crest cells in vitro. Exp Cell Res 133:285–295
Seiger Å, Olson L (1977) Quantitation of fiber growth in transplanted central monoamine neurons. Cell Tissue Res 179:285–316
Strömberg I, Herrera-Marschitz M, Hultgren L, Ungerstedt U, Olson L (1984) Adrenal medullary implants in the dopaminedenervated rat striatum. I. Acute catecholamine levels in grafts and host caudate as determined by HPLC-electrochemistry and fluorescence histochemical image analysis. Brain Res 297:41–51
Strömberg I, Ebendal T, Seiger Å, Olson L (1985a) Nerve fiber production by intraocular adrenal medullary grafts: Stimulation by nerve growth factor or sympathetic denervation of the host iris. Cell Tissue Res 241:241–249
Stromberg I, Herrera-Marschitz M, Ungerstedt U, Ebendal T, Olson L (1985b) Chronic implants of chromaffin tissue into the dopamine-denervated striatum. Effects of NGF on graft survival, fiber growth and rotational behavior. Exp Brain Res 60:335–349
Thoenen H, Barde Y-A (1980) Physiology of nerve growth factor. Physiol Rev 60:1284–1323
Tischler AS, Greene LA (1980) Phenotypic plasticity of pheochromocytoma and normal adrenal medullary cells. In: Eränkö O et al. (eds) Histochemistry and cell biology of autonomic neurons, SIF cells, and paraneurons. Raven Press, New York, pp 61–68
Tischler AS, DeLellis RA, Biales B, Nunnemacher G, Carabba V, Wolfe HJ (1980) Nerve growth factor-induced neurite outgrowth from normal human chromaffin cells. Lab Invest 43:399–409
Tischler AS, Perlman RL, Nunnemacher G, Morse GM, DeLellis RA, Wolfe HJ, Sheard BE (1982) Long-term effects of dexamethasone and nerve growth factor on adrenal medullary cells cultured from young adult rats. Cell Tissue Res 225:525–542
Unsicker K (1967) Über die Ganglienzellen im Nebennierenmark des Goldhamsters. Z Zellforsch 76:187–219
Unsicker K, Chamley J (1977) Growth characteristics of postnatal rat adrenal medulla in culture. Cell Tissue Res 177:247–268
Unsicker K, Krisch B, Otten U, Thoenen H (1978) Nerve growth factor induced fiber outgrowth from isolated rat adrenal chromaffin cells: Impairment by glucocorticoids. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 75:3498–3502
Unsicker K, Rieffert B, Ziegler W (1980) Effects of cell culture conditions, nerve growth factor, dexamethasone, and cyclic AMP on adrenal chromaffin cells in vitro. In: Eränkö O et al. (eds) Histochemical and cell biology of autonomic neurons, SIF cells, and paraneurons. Raven Press, New York, pp 51–59
Unsicker K, Millar TJ, Hofmann HD (1982) Nerve growth factor requirement of postnatal rat adrenal medullary cells in vitro for survival, aggregate formation and maintenance of extended neurites. Dev Neurosci 5:412–417
Unsicker K, Skaper SD, Varon S (1985) Developmental changes in the responses of rat chromaffin cells to neuronotrophic and neurite-promoting factors. Dev Biol 111:425–433
Verhofstad AAJ, Coupland RE, Parker TR, Goldstein M (1985) Immunohistochemical and biochemical study on the development of the noradrenaline-and adrenaline-storing cells of the adrenal medulla of the rat. Cell Tissue Res 242:233–243
Whittemore SR, Ebendal T, Lärkfors L, Olson L, Seiger Å, Strömberg I, Persson H (1986) Developmental and regional expression of β-nerve growth factor messenger RNA and protein in the rat central nervous system. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 83:817–821
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Strömberg, I., Hultgårdh-Nilsson, A., Hedin, U. et al. Fate of intraocular chromaffin cell suspensions: role of initial nerve growth factor support. Cell Tissue Res. 254, 487–497 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00226498
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00226498