Bioelectric activity in long-term cultures of spinal cord tissues.

Fragments of embryonic spinal cord (human, rat, and chick) can regenerate and differentiate in tissue culture. Complex bioelectric activity evoked by electric stimuli indicates that nerve cells in cultures may maintain, for months in vitro, not only the capacity to propagate impulses along their neurites but also a remarkable degree of functional organization resembling the activity of synaptic networks of the central nervous system.