Intracerebral grafting of catecholamine producing cells and reconstruction of disturbed brain function.

The objective of neural transplantation is to improve and reconstruct deteriorated brain function through an intracerebral implant of neural or paraneural tissues. In the last decade, basic research in this field has made great progress and brought magnificent results. Recently, the clinical application for treatment of Parkinson's disease has started and some fruitful effects are seen. Neural transplantation, on the other hand, is a useful tool in neurobiology to study the attention attracting themes, i.e., regeneration, development, plasticity, gene expression, neuroimmunology, trophic factor, etc. In this review, the functional recovery, mechanism, trophic factor, and clinical applications will be discussed pertaining to intracerebral grafting of catecholamine producing cells.