Immunosuppression for neural xenografts: a comparison of cyclosporin and anti-CD25 monoclonal antibody.

Object. The goal of this study was to compare the effects of short- and long-term immunosuppression induced by cyclosporin with those of immunosuppression induced by a monoclonal antibody against the rat interleukin-2 receptor (anti-CD25 mAb) in rats with xenografts. Methods. The authors compared the in vivo function and final histological characteristics of fetal mouse mesencephalon xenografts in hemiparkinsonian rats in which immunosuppression was induced by: 1) a short course (2 weeks) of cyclosporin; 2) a long course (8 weeks) of cyclosporin; or 3) a short course of treatment with anti-CD25 mAb. Adult Wistar rats were unilaterally lesioned with 6-hydroxydopamine in their medial forebrain bundle, after which their rotational behavior in response to methamphetamine was quantified. Four groups of 20 rats with rotations numbering greater than six turns per minute received fetal mouse mesencephalon transplants to their dopamine-denervated striatum. Group 1 received no immunosuppression therapy; Group 2 rec...