Initially, it was thought to prove that the brain was an immunologically privileged organ, as the host's immune system did not attack it at first,[1] but immunorejection caused the monkey to die after nine days.
Because immune cells of the CNS contribute to the maintenance of neurogenesis and spatial learning abilities in adulthood, the brain has been hypothesized to be an immunologically privileged (unrejectable) organ.
[7] In 1982, Dr. Dorothy T. Krieger, chief of endocrinology at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City, achieved success with a partial brain transplant in mice.
[8] In 1998, a team of surgeons from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center attempted to transplant a group of brain cells to Alma Cerasini, who had suffered a severe stroke that caused the loss of mobility in her right limbs as well as had limited speech.
In the film Pichaikkaran 2 (2023), written and directed by Vijay Antony, a CEO and his accomplice transplanted a beggar's brain to an ultra-rich man to rob him of his wealth.
In Neil R. Jones' Professeur Jameson stories (1931), the main character is the last earthman, whose brain is saved by some alien cyborgs called the Zoromes, and is inserted into a robotic body, making him immortal.
Robert Heinlein's 1970 science fiction novel, I Will Fear No Evil, features a main character named Johann Sebastian Bach Smith whose entire brain is transplanted into his deceased secretary's skull.
In Matthew Broughton's BBC radio drama thriller Tracks (series 1 – Origins), the protagonist Helen Ash discovers that many of the victims in a plane crash which she witnessed have vital organs missing or deficient, including the brain.
In one episode of Star Trek, Spock's Brain is stolen and installed in a large computer-like structure; and in "I, Mudd" Uhura is offered immortality in an android body.
The novel Harvest of Stars by Poul Anderson features many central characters who undergo such transplants, and deals with the difficult decisions facing a human contemplating such a procedure.