Intracerebral grafting of dissociated CNS tissue suspensions: a new approach for neuronal transplantation to deep brain sites.

Suspensions of central nervous tissue, prepared by dissociation of selected embryonic brain regions, may be viably transplanted by intraparenchymal injection into a variety of sites in the depth of adult rat host brains. Such grafted neurons can mediate considerable reinnervation of a previously denervated brain region, and they can replace neurons intrinsic to a particular target, such as the caudate-putamen, previously damaged by the neurotoxin kainic acid. The present technique should open entirely new possibilities for experiments on neuronal reconstruction following brain lesions.