ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

What is a brain graft

Updated on February 21, 2011

The possibility of various kinds of organ transplants of the kidneys, liver, and even heart-has received a great deal of popular attention in recent years. The notion of transplanting brain tissue, also known as brain grafting, probably calls forth images of mad scientists, like Frankenstein, working with sinister-looking equipment in some secluded laboratory. Efforts to graft tissue in the central nervous systems of laboratory animals goes back at least to 1890, although it was generally assumed that neurons in the central nervous system of humans and other mammals could not regenerate after injury and that, consequently, grafts of neuronal tissue were doomed to failure. Only recently have scientists become optimistic about the possibilities of repairing damage in the central nervous system of mammals. Most typically, the research has been carried out with rats, but other species, such as mice and rabbits, have also been used.

A number of transplantation methods have been tried in the effort to graft healthy neurological tissue to damaged areas of the central nervous system. The earliest approach was to insert the graft from one animal directly into a slit near the surface of another animal's cortex. While there was some success with this method in immature rats, it did not work as well in mature animals. A more successful technique is to place the graft into a surgically prepared transplantation cavity. This procedure allows for better control over the placement of the graft and the use of larger tissue pieces (usually from the brain matter of a rat embryo).

Anders Bjorklund and Ulf Stenevi, in their 1984 review of research on intracerebral neural implants, note that the single most important factor for good survival of neural grafts is the developmental stage of the donor tissue and, to a lesser degree, the age of the recipient animal. In rats, at least, there is no strong evidence of rejection of neurological transplants by the body's immune system, leading to the possibility that the brain may be an immunologically privileged site, partly because of its protective blood-brain barrier.

What do neurological transplants do when they are successfully grafted into a damaged area of a rat's brain? One suggestion is that the effect of the implant is to stimulate and promote a regenerative response already present in the recipient's brain as a result of the lesion. Research suggests that the transplant acts as a bridge to guide regenerating axons back to their original sites.

What does all this research with rats have to do with people? Many of the experimentally induced lesions are designed to mimic the kinds of neuropathological changes associated with some diseases. Research on the ability of transplants to offset the effects of these changes may ultimately improve our ability to deal with such diseases in humans. Moreover, efforts have been made to use tissue implants to offset age-related deficits in aging rats. Such research has implications for the treatment of impairments associated with human aging, including the premature senility caused by Alzheimer's disease. Research on this serious problem is beginning to show some hopeful breakthroughs.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)