Local immunosuppression to improve the welfare of animals in neural transplantation experiments

Why did we fund this project?

This award aims to validate a refined method of inducing immunosuppression during neural transplantation experiments in rat models of Parkinson’s disease.

New treatments for neurodegenerative disease include neural cell transplantation therapies to replace neurons and prevent further degeneration. These treatments are tested for safety and efficacy in various preclinical studies, including in vivo studies in rodents. For human cells to be transplanted into an animal the immune system must be suppressed. This requires daily injections over many months and can have adverse effects that can impact animal welfare. Dr Victoria Roberton has developed microparticles that release immunosuppressant over the course of a month and can be administered at the same time as transplanted cells avoiding the need for repeated injections. Victoria will now transfer the method to Dr Mariah Lelos (Cardiff University) who will use the method in a rat model of Parkinson’s disease. She will compare the survival of cells transplanted with microparticles to standard systemic immune suppression and monitor the impacts of both methods on animal welfare to further validate the refined method.