Ethics of fetal tissue transplantation.

Now that the Clinton Administration has overturned the ban on federal funding for fetal tissue transplantation, old ethical issues renew their relevance and new ethical issues arise. Is fetal tissue transplantation necessary and beneficial? Are fetal rights violated by the use of fetal tissue in research? Is there a moral danger that the potential of fetal tissue donation will encourage elective abortions? Should pregnant women be allowed to designate specific fetal transplant recipients? What criteria should be used to select fetal tissue transplants? Whose consent should be required for the use of fetal tissue for transplantation? We review the current state of clinical research with fetal tissue transplantation, the legal history of fetal tissue research, the major arguments against the use of fetal tissue for transplantation, and the new postmoratorium ethical dilemmas. We include recommendations for guidelines to govern the medical treatment of fetal tissue in transplantation.     

Preliminary report on the use of fetal tissue transplantation to correct MPTP-induced Parkinson-like syndrome in primates

A Parkinson-like syndrome was produced in nonhuman primates and successfully reversed through transplantation of heterologous fetal mesencephalic brain tissue. Rigidity and bradykinesia were induced by the chronic administration of N-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine. Once the deficits were fixed, Macaca mulatta with well-developed Parkinson-like behavior received fetal mesencephalic cell preparations stereotactically implanted into multiple sites of the head of the caudate bilaterally. Both animals demonstrated a normalization of CSF L-dopa and significant improvement in observed activity. The neuropathological studies performed 2 months following transplantation demonstrated successful integration of fetal cells in the caudate.     

Human research tissue banks: the ATRA Project for establishing a human research tissue bank in switzerland

A large number of experiments in biomedical research are carried out on tissues, but, even though the results should be applicable to humans, these tissues are mainly of animal origin. The difficulty encountered in obtaining human organs and tissues is an acknowledged problem: not enough human tissues are available to meet research needs. We are introducing the ATRA Project, with the purpose of supporting progress in biomedical research in Switzerland through the establishment of one or more human tissue banks, which will be able to find, treat, preserve and supply human material. Where similar projects have already been launched, concerns have been expressed that donation for research purposes might compete with donation for transplantation, but most organs and tissues are in any case non-transplantable. Surplus surgical tissue is considered "sanitary waste", and must be treated according to specific regulations for collection, packaging, transport, treatment and disposal. A human tissue bank would not only abate the costs of treating sanitary waste, but would actually turn what is now considered waste into a resource which could be used to save human and animal lives.     

Cryopreservation of fetal rat brain tissue later used for intracerebral transplantation

Intracerebral grafting of immature brain tissue is now widely used as a tool to study neuronal development and regeneration in the brain and spinal cord. This has stimulated the interest in methods for storage of such tissue before transplantation. In this study a method for cryopreservation of immature rat central nervous tissue is presented and discussed in relation to current cryobiological principles. The method was applied to brain tissue from 16- and 17-day-old fetal rats, including the neocortex, habenula, septum and basal forebrain, cerebellum, and retina. After storage in liquid nitrogen from 6 to 52 days the tissue was grafted into the brain of adult rats. The recipients survived for 23 to 673 days before their brains were processed by current neuroanatomical, histological methods. The presence of graft tissues was recorded and their cellular and connective organization was examined, including their exchange of nerve connections with the host brain. The results obtained were comparable with results from other studies where the same tissues were grafted immediately after removal from the donor, and a study of cryopreservation of developing hippocampal tissue. We conclude that cryopreservation is a reliable method for storage of immature neural tissue later to be used for intracerebral grafting.     

Human tissue fibronectin: expression of different isotypes in the adult and fetal tissues

The isotype of fibronectin present in human adult and fetal lung tissues was studied by limited proteolysis by cathepsin D followed by immunoblot analysis with domain-specific antibodies. The results indicate that the fibronectin in the adult lung tissue is predominantly the plasma-type whereas the fibronectin in the fetal lung tissue is more related to the cellular-type than to the plasma-type. Thus, it appears that the fibronectin isotype in tissue switches from the cellular-type to the plasma-type during ontogenesis.