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Olfactory bulb ensheathing glia (OB-OEG) from adult rodents promote functional and
morphological repair after grafting into injured spinal cords. To provide insight into the feasibility of using OB-OEG in human therapy, we studied OB-OEG in primates to determine their suitability for spinal cord transplantation. Here we show that OEG can be obtained from olfactory bulbs of adult macaca mulatta and nemestrina monkeys and compare their characteristics to those obtained from rats. In contrast to rodent OBOEG, primate OB-OEG are non-senescent, exhibit a longer lifespan, are less sensitive to high oxygen culture environment, and maintain a phenotype suitable for grafting for up to 2.5 months in vitro. Three-week cultures (short term) derived from a single macaca olfactory bulb provide enough OEG for autologous transplantation at the acute
stage of injury, and after long-term cultures (2.5 months) may yield an additional 20 billion. OEG can be frozen for later use. Therefore, primate adult olfactory bulbs constitute a reliable source of OEG for cell therapy, and successful culture of these cells make autologous transplantation feasible.
This work was supported by the Health Department of the Autonomous Government of
Castilla y León. This work was supported by Fundación "La Caixa" (00/080), Ministry of Education and Science (SAF2001-2242), Fundación Investigación en Regeneración del Sistema Nervioso and Fundación Ramón Areces.
Peer reviewed