Fetal cortical transplants reduce the thalamic atrophy induced by frontal cortical lesions in newborn rats.

Fetal neocortical tissue was grafted into frontal cortex lesion cavities made in newborn rats. After survival periods extending up to 14 months, volumetric measurements of the total thalamus and of the lateral, medial and anterior thalamic compartments showed an amelioration of the thalamic atrophy that normally is found after cortical lesions. These results correspond to previous findings demonstrating interconnections between fetal cortical transplants and the host thalamus.