THE ENGRAFTMENT OF TRANSPLANTED PRIMARY NEUROEPITHELIAL CELLS WITHIN THE POSTNATAL MOUSE-BRAIN

Primary neuroepithelial precursor cells carrying the reporter gene lac Z were transplanted into postnatal murine brain and assessed for their engraftment capacity. Freshly dissected precursors, derived from lacZ transgenic embryonic day 10 mouse brain, predominantly engrafted as d iscrete clusters, whereas the same precursors cultured in vitro with f ibroblast growth factor-2, engrafted as single cells within the parenc hyma of the hippocampus. Approximately 0.5% of the transplanted cells survived in the host brain for up to 3 months. Many of these cells dis played neuronal and astrocyte morphologies. These observations suggest that transplanted primary precursors derived from the embryonic brain can engraft and commit in situ to a variety of developmental fates.