The effect of the alien gene GDNF on the development of homo- and xenografts in the rat brain

A transgenic line of Drosophila melanogaster was selected which carried the following genes: Delta, lacZ (for bacterial galactosidase), and human GDNF (for glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor). Drosophila neuroectodermal embryonic cells were transplanted with the embryonic neurohomografts into the occipital brain region of an adult rat. Xenografts were found to block scar formation at the graft-host tissue boundary, stimulated homograft development (so that it was twice as large as the control homograft transplanted alone with no xenograft added), and noticeably improved vascularization of the homograft area.