This study was designed to examine the effects of bone marrow stromal cells (MSCs) cultured in vitro with or without neurotrophic factors transplanted into adult male Wistar rats after traumatic brain injury (TBI). MSCs harvested from donor Wistar rats were cultured with either the culture medium containing brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and nerve growth factor (NGF) or the same culture media without these factors. Control and experimental animals were then traumatized by a controlled cortical impact. One day after the impact, either the placebo or the washed MSCs (1 x 10(6)) cultured with or without NGF and BDNF were transplanted adjacent to the site of injury. In addition, a nontreated group of rats was employed. Motor function of the animals was evaluated by the Rotarod test both before and after the injury. All animals were sacrificed 8 days after TBI, and the brain sections were stained by H&E as well as for immunohistochemistry. MSCs survived and migrated toward the injury site. The group treated with MSCs cultured with BDNF and NGF had a significantly higher number of engrafted cells than the group treated with MSCs cultured without BDNF and NGF (6.3 x 10(4) +/- 4250 compared to 4.1 x 10(4) +/- 3684; p < 0.05). In both groups, some transplanted MSCs showed positive staining for astrocytic (GFAP) and neuronal markers (Neu N and MAP-2). The groups treated with MSCs had better motor function than the groups receiving no treatment or receiving the placebo (PBS; p < 0.05); however, the improvement reached statistical significance only in the group treated with MSCs cultured with neurotrophic factors. These data suggest that more robust motor function described in rats subjected to TBI and treated with intracerebral transplantation of MSCs was achieved by the use of MSCs cultured with neurotrophic factors.