Neural transplantation using temperature-sensitive immortalized neural cells: A preliminary report

Current approaches to neural transplantation - adrenal medullary and fetal brain - suffer from limitations in tissue availability, cellular uniformity, and general applicability. The system described here uses temperaturesensitive immortalized clonal neural cells to address these limitations. Cerebellar cells, immortalized with a temperature-sensitive tumor virus, are transformed at 34°C, but differentiate at 38°C. The cells were genetically engineered to express beta-galactosidase, provid-ing a tag to study their fate in the host. The cells were then successfully transplanted to the cerebellum of adult rats.