The engraftment of transplanted primary neuroepithelial cells within the postnatal mouse brain

Primary neuroepithelial precursor cells carrying the reporter gene lacZ 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 discrete clusters, whereas the same precursors cultured in vitro with fibroblast growth factor-2, engrafted as single cells within the parenchyma of the hippocampus. Approximately 0.5% of the transplanted cells survived in the host brain for up to 3 months. Many of these cells displayed 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.