In order to investigate the chemical and morphornetrical properties of the neuronal precursor cells derived from thesubventricular zone(SVZ) of the postnatal rat forebrain in vitro. The cell-type specific antibodies were used for the immunocy-tochemical staining ,and the morphometric parameters which were the mean soma diameter and the ellipticity index (i. e. , thesmallest soma diameter divided by the largest soma diameter) of every SVZ-derived cell were measured for identifying the pheno-types of the SVZ cells in vitro. The experiment animals were SD rats (weights: 100～ 150 g), the SVZ cells derived from thepostnatal rats were cultured on poly-D-lysine-coated 24-well glass chamber slides in the Neurobasal Medium supplemented withB27 in 5% CO2 at 37 C. The following results were obtained.. At 1 day in vitro, almost all SVZ cells (〉90%) from the postna-tal rat forebrain expressed Tujl, an antibody that recognizes neuron-specific tubulin. Likewise, the preponderance of the SVZcells expressed the polysialylated neural cell adhesion molecule (PSA-N-CAM) ; The majority of the SVZ Tujl-positive cells cul-tured were the cells that had oval-shaped bodies with two short, unbranched processes protruded from every two poles, theirmean soma diameter were 8.42±1.03μm and their ellipticity index were 0.57±0.12. Meanwhile, there were approximately20% of the SVZ cells in culture that were sphere-shaped cells with mean soma diameter 7.20±l.04 μm , and it might be observed that these cells connected with one another. As the time in culture went on, these sphere-shaped SVZ-derived cells alsotransformed to oval-shaped ones as described above, but it could be observed that the cells were still connected in the processesof them. By 3 and 5 days in culture, the SVZ cells had larger cell somas (average diameter 9. 07±1.07 μm), and often consider-ably longer processes but still with few branches. Immunocytochemical staining revealed that the majority of the SVZ cells in cul-ture remained Tujl-positive, PSA-N-CAM-positive. By 7 days in culture, the Tujl-positive cells in culture showed remarkablemorphological changes, and possessed typical neuronal phenotypes, which had more larger cell somas (average diameter 12.8 ±1.13 μm), and had more longer, branched processes. Our results showed that the SVZ in the postnatal SD rats contained theneuronal precursor cells which were PSA-N-CAM-positive and could differentiate into new neurons in vitro.