Factors affecting recovery of brain cells from cryopreserved cerebral tissues of fetal rats were examined based on yields of viable cells on cell culture. Favorable preservation was obtained with freezing small pieces (less than 1 mm cube) of brain tissues rather than whole tissues or dissociated single cells, and use of 10% dimethylsulfoxide as a cryoprotectant in liquid nitrogen. As for cell preparation procedures, cell survival was improved when tissues were heated at 32 degrees C during papain digestion and centrifugation. Under favorable conditions, the number of brain cells recovered from cryopreserved tissues corresponded to 20-30% of those from fresh control tissues. Immunocytochemical characteristics of cultured neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes from cryopreserved and fresh tissues were indistinguishable. Semi-quantitive analyses of microtubule-associated protein-2 (MAP-2) and synaptophysin revealed that there was no difference in the amounts of these markers between cultures from both fresh and cryopreserved tissues. These results suggest that most of all cell types including neurons were equally susceptible to the cryopreservation procedures. We concluded that cryopreservation in liquid nitrogen is an effective method for preservation of embryonic brain tissues for later use in cell culture studies.