The authors studied the morphological picture of implanted foetal brain tissue. Macroscopically, they found that the grafts used for morphological study had taken in every case and that the size of the graft had doubled or trebled. The surface of the implant grew above the level of the recipient's cortex and numerous branching blood vessels were observed in the graft-cortex contact area. In the light microscope, organization of the cells in circular clusters or strips was found in the implant. Large numbers of blood vessels of varying calibre were present in the vicinity of large cell concentrations. Distinct differences between the cytoarchitectonics of the normal tissue of the recipient and the graft tissue were seen. Cells with a normal appearance or an apolar form, whose nucleus contained irregularly scattered chromatin and mosaic-like nucleoli, were observed at ultrastructural level. The nuclear membrane was thrown into multiple folds which invaginated deep into the nuclear matter. The Golgi complex covered a large area. Axodendritic synapses indistinguishable from the control were found in the neuropil. No changes were observed in the walls of the capillaries. The pericapillary zone was characterized by the presence of light astrocyte processes.

Department of Anatomy Faculty of Medicine Comenius University Bratislava