Therapeutic efficacy of GDNF loaded collagen scaffolds in organotypic brain slices with rotenone-induced Parkinson´s disease

In this poster we described our study that aims to test the neuroprotective effects of trophic glial cell-line derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) encapsulated in collagen scaffolds on dopaminergic neurons of substantia nigra (SN) and ventral tegmental area with an ex vivo model. We used organotypic brain vibrosections from wild type postnatal day 9-11 mice and evaluate the survival of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) positive dopaminergic neurons by immunohistochemistry, as well as qRT-PCR and Western Blotting. Collagen scaffolds crosslinked with polyethyleneglycol had a good release profile of GDNF and could be applied directly onto the brain slices.We established that the pesticide rotenone caused selective degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in SN, providing a good model to study PD in such slices. GDNF in the culture media significantly prevented toxic effects of rotenone.