Authors' contributionEF and KL performed grafts; EF performed motor training, behavioral, immunohistochemical analyses and stereological counts; MG and EB performed molecular biology and biochemical experiments; EF, FR, KL and AB conceived experiments, EF, KL and AB interpreted data and wrote the manuscript; all the authors reviewed and approved the final manuscript.
Highlights• Preventive grafts of Purkinje cells survive despite ongoing host neurodegeneration correlates. Our results demonstrate that, despite a good survival rate and integration of grafted PCs, the adopted grafting protocol could not alleviate the ataxic symptoms in tbl mice. Conversely, preventive motor training increases PCs survival with a moderate positive impact on the motor phenotype.