Striatal reconstruction by striatal grafts.
It is now well established that striatal lesions induce motor and cognitive deficits in rats, and that grafts of embryonic striatal tissue can survive, integrate into the lesioned host brain and alleviate the behavioural deficits in both motor and cognitive spheres. How? Since normal striatal function is dependent upon it's integration within a connected cortical-subcortical neuronal circuitry, and the deficits following striatal damage appear to reflect a "disconnexion" syndrome, the observation of recovery suggests that the grafts re-establish a connected circuitry within the host brain. Evidence to corroborate or refute this hypothesis, in comparison with a less-specific mechanism (or mechanisms) of recovery, is considered, including anatomical, electrophysiological and neurochemical demonstrations of functional circuit reconstruction in the host brain by striatal tissue transplants.
Dunnett
S B
SB
MRC Cambridge Centre for Brain Repair, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom.
D000818:Animals; D016380:Brain Tissue Transplantation / Q000473:pathology; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000637:transplantation*; D017781:Genes, Immediate-Early; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats