The engraftment and differentiation of transplanted bone marrow-derived cells in the olfactory bulb after methimazole administration

Abstract

Conclusion: Bone marrow-derived cells can be engrafted in the olfactory bulb and a few cells can differentiate into mitral/tufted cells in the olfactory bulb. Objectives: To investigate whether bone marrow-derived cells can be engrafted into the olfactory bulb and differentiate into neurons and glial cells after methimazole administration. Methods: Bone marrow of GFP (green fluorescence protein) mice was transplanted into lethally irradiated recipient mice. Immunostaining was performed to confirm the cell types of bone marrow-derived cells expressing GFP. Results: GFP-positive cells were observed in the olfactory bulb at 2 days after methimazole administration. The number of dendritic GFP-positive cells increased up to 30 days after methimazole administration and then decreased. Double immunostaining for GFP and Iba1 or TBX21 showed that a large population of the GFP-positive cells had characteristics of microglia/macrophages and a few cells had characteristics of mitral/tufted cells.

Keywords::

• Transplantation
• regeneration
• olfaction
• mitral cells
• microglia

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by grants from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (no. 24592550 to K.N. and no. 22791603 to J. Y.).

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.