A morphological study of the neuroblastoma-glioma hybrid cell line, NG108-15, in culture and after grafting to the adult rat brain.

NG108-15 cells were implanted into adult rat neocortex 10 days after nucleus basalis lesions which had partially denervated this site. Before implantation, NG108-15 cells displayed highly differentiated characteristics, including neurite extension and neurofilament expression. After grafting, however, NG108-15 cells became highly mitotic and lost their differentiated features such as neurofilament immunoreactivity. It is concluded that anaplastic changes, presumed to be induced in these cells by the injured brain microenvironment, are not conductive to using this cell line as a potential donating source of neural tissue for transplantation.