Functional recovery in a rat model of Parkinson's disease following transplantation of cultured human sympathetic neurons

Rats subjected to a unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced lesion of the nigostriatal dopamine pathway were given transplants of cultured fetal human sympathetic neurons. Amphetamine-induced turning behavior in these rats was reversed by the transplants after 1.5–4.5 months. The presence of transplanted neurons and their processes was demonstrated by immunohistochemistry for tyrosine hydroxylase.