SURVIVAL OF FOETAL NEURAL TISSUE FROM THE H-2K-tsA58 TRANSGENIC MOUSE GRAFTED TO ADULT MOUSE BRAIN

Many recent studies have used a temperature sensitive strain of the simian virus 40 large tumor antigen gene (tsA58) to immortalise foetal neural cells by gene insertion in vitro. The H-2Kb-tsA58 transgenic mouse circumvents the need for such genetic manipulation as the tsA58 gene is already within its genome. The results from this study show that foetal neural cells from this mouse do no proliferate and form tumors after grafting to adult brain; rather they survive and differentiate in a manner similar to nontransgenic foetal neural transplants. Therefore, this mouse is a potential source of cells for generating cell lines useful for transplantation studies.