Alzheimer's disease is one of the major scientific, medical and social challenges of our time. This book (the third volume of proceedings of the Colloques Medecine et Recherche of the Fondation Ipsen pour la Recherche Therapeutique) is dedicated to neuronal grafting and Alzheimer's disease. The wealth of basic information presented testifies to the progress that has been achieved in intracerebral grafting and to the utility of intracerebral grafting as a tool for the understanding of brain development, adult neuronal plasticity and age-related pathology. An answer to the question, whether neuronal grafting will be useful as a therapy for Alzheimer's disease, must wait for a better understanding of the disease and the identification of animal models that can be used to test potential therapies. Meanwhile, the tool of intracerebral grafting may, in the future, be used to address the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease.

Cell transplantation to the brain and spinal cord is a well-established research tool for studies on cellular and molecular mechanisms, but can it be developed into a useful therapuetic approach in human neurological disorders? Clinical trials in patients with Parkinson's disease have provided encouraging evidence, however, no treatment based on transplantation is available yet. An overview of current research is given in this book. It summarizes the status of grafting in humans and discusses scientific problems that have to be solved before intracerebral transplantation can become a useful routine approach to treatment.