Embryonic hippocampal grafts ameliorate the deficit in DRL acquisition produced by hippocampectomy

Transplants of fetal neural tissue survive and develop in lesion cavities produced in adult rats. The present experiment tested the effect of grafting fetal hippocampal or brainstem tissue on the ability of rats with hippocampal lesions to perform on a differential reinforcement of low response rate (DRL) operant schedule. The DRL interval was 20s. Eighty-six percent of the hippocampal grafts and 69% of the brainstem grafts developed to maturity. Inspection of sections from rats in which the mature transplant had been injected with Fast blue, indicated that these grafts formed connections with the host brain. Consistent with previous reports, rats with hippocampal lesions were impaired in performance of the DRL task. Rats given fetal grafts of hippocampal tissue into the hippocampal lesion site on the day of lesion production were significantly better in performance of the DRL requirement than were lesion-only rats or rats receiving grafts of fetal brainstem tissue. The results of this study confirm that grafts of fetal brain tissue can both develop in a lesion site in an adult brain and ameliorate lesion-induced behavioral deficits.