Gene therapy develops very rapidly during the resent years. Great prospects have been demonstrated from basic study and clinic test. However, the gene therapy in CNS is still in stage of laboratory. The research status and prospects of gene therapy in spinal cord injury (SCI) were introduced. The basic principle is to transplant certain cells genetically modified with NTFs to the site of the injuried spinal cord, then NTFs are expressed in vivo and stimulate axon regrowing. Virus vectors are usually used for gene transfer because of their high rate of transfection, and the receptor cells include fibroblast, myoblast, etc. Nowadays, gene therapy in SCI is studied in many laboratories and the problems include: 1. The ideal components of transfer gene. 2. The choice of carrier. 3. Immune reaction, and prolonged survival and persistent expression of the receptor cells in the spinal cord. If these problems could be solved, the gene therapy would become the key method in the therapy of SCI.
Objective To study the effects of several neurotrophic factors and growth factors on the survival of human retinal ganglion cells(RGC)in vitro. Methods RGC were isolated from donor eyes and cultured.RGC in cell culture were identified by morphologic criteria and immunocytochemical staining.Various neurotrophic factors and growth factors were added individually to the cultures.Numbers of RGC in wells in which these agents had been added were compared with those from control wells(cultures without supplements). Results No or very few RGC were present in cell cultures containing medium without supplements or those supplemented with neurotrophin-3(NT-3),nerve growth factor (NGF),epidermal growth factor(EGF)amd plateletderived growth factor(PDGF).Numbers of RGC(per 10 fields)in cell cultures containing brain derived neurotrophic factor(BDNF),ciliary neurotrophic factor(CNTF),neurotrophin-4/5(NT-4/5)and basic fibroblast growth factor(bFGF)wer 4.08,1.23,2.63 and 2.65,respectively,significantly more than found in the control cultures. Conclusions BDNF,NT-4/5,bFGF,CNTF improve survival of human RGC in vitro,while NGF,NT-3,EGF and PDGF do not. (Chin J Ocul Fundus Dis, 1999, 15: 149-152)