Dunnett S
Dept of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, UK.
Trends Neurosci. 1991 Aug;14(8):371-6. doi: 10.1016/0166-2236(91)90166-r.
Neural grafts rich in cholinergic neurones can survive transplantation to the neocortex or hippocampus in rats. Such grafts have the capacity to ameliorate a variety of functional deficits associated both with explicit lesions that deafferent the neocortex or hippocampus and with natural ageing. The transplantation technique enhances our understanding of the involvement of forebrain cholinergic systems in normal cognitive functions (including memory) and of the role of cholinergic degeneration in the dysfunctions associated with ageing. It is unlikely, however, that these observations will extend to a therapeutic strategy for dementia using neural transplantation, because the human diseases (at least in the case of Alzheimer's disease and multi-infarct dementia) involve widespread degeneration of other populations of cortical neurones that are not so amenable to functional transplantation as the diffuse forebrain cholinergic systems.
富含胆碱能神经元的神经移植物能够在移植到大鼠的新皮层或海马体后存活。此类移植物有能力改善与使新皮层或海马体传入神经缺失的明确损伤以及自然衰老相关的各种功能缺陷。移植技术增进了我们对前脑胆碱能系统在正常认知功能（包括记忆）中的作用以及胆碱能变性在与衰老相关功能障碍中的作用的理解。然而，这些观察结果不太可能扩展到使用神经移植治疗痴呆症的策略，因为人类疾病（至少在阿尔茨海默病和多发性梗死性痴呆的情况下）涉及其他皮层神经元群体的广泛退化，这些神经元群体不像弥漫性前脑胆碱能系统那样易于进行功能性移植。
