| Summary: | In Neural Transplantation Methods, leading experimental neurobiologists and neurosurgeons provide all the technical and practical information required to perform neural transplantation in experimental and neurological research, including a detailed consideration of the issues involved in designing and customizing such methods for specific research purposes. The authors outline the different sources of donor tissues and other materials for implantation, and discuss the practicalities of embryonic staging and dissection, of the storage of cells by hibernation or cryopreservation, of the expansion of precursor cells, and of the genetic manipulation of cells for in vivo or ex vivo gene transfer. Tissue implantation techniques used for experimental animals of different species include: in oculo and demyelination models, microtransplantation of cell suspensions, encapsulation of transplanted cells, implantation into immature animals-especially primates-and labeling transplanted cells for subsequent detection. Special attention is given to the factors determining transplant survival and integration, detailing the role of the blood-brain barrier, the importance of vascularization for proper graft nutrition, the role of trophic factors, and strategies for immune suppression. Neural Transplantation Methods constitutes the single most comprehensive sourcebook of practical information on the effective use of transplantation techniques in experimental neurobiology. Its powerful and flexible techniques will significantly aid all those now working to develop today's powerful new treatments of brain and spinal cord diseases and injuries.
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