Reconstruction of Brains and Journals

This issue begins a new incarnation of the Journal ofNeural Transplantation and Plasticity (JNTP). New journals, new editorships, and major changes are often the occasion for the writing of editorials; this time, it is a new editorship and a clarification of purpose. With this issue, JNTP is re-dedicated to the publication of high-quality studies of neural transplantation and plasticity. JNTP will aim to become a leading journal in the field by maintaining high standards of quality and a deafly-focused mission. The editors and publisher especially wish to thank Drs. Uri Yinon and Paul Sanberg for their prior service as editor-in-chief and interim editor respectively. Paul Sanberg has agreed to continue to serve as a member of the editorial board. Through their efforts, JNTP has become established and developed a record of consistent publication of quality papers. The mission of JNTP is to serve as a forum for studies on manipulating, promoting, or guiding neural plasticity. Neural transplantation, at the moment, accounts for a large part of this literature. Due to recent advances in molecular biology , it appears likely that intervention in brain circuitry through administration or manipulation of growth factors will in the near future at least equal transplantation as a major area of research. Other similarly promising methods of manipulating neural plasticity include, for example, altering the substrate for neural growth/2, 11, 50/, im-plantation of encapsulated cells/1, 70/and polymers or gel matrices /71/, use of chronic drug-releasing polymers/3, 23, 40/, and genetic manipulation of neuronal cells in situ/24/. The niche for JNTP is to communicate studies of neural transplantation as well as neural plasticity, especially studies of neural plasticity that are relevant to experimental manipulation. This would include studies in areas such as effects of trophic factors, production of trophic or growth-inhibitory factors by brain/41/, recovery of function after lesiom, including studies of reorganization of neural circuits/51/, effects of behavioral training/66, 68/and drug administration/6,12, 28/, survival or replacement of neuronal circuits, and enhancement or guiding of collateral sprouting or axonal regeneration, or studieswhich shed light on possibilities for such techniques. In addition to its use as a means of manipulating brain function, neural transplantation has important applicatiom as a basic research tool. The functional role of circuits in the brain has for the most part been defined by the consequences of their absence, following either experimental or accidental lesiom. Neural transplantation is unique as a research tool in …