Organotypic cultures of fetal or early postnatal striatum were used to assess striatal patch formation and maintenance in the presence or absence of dopaminergic and glutamatergic influences. Vibratome-cut slices of the striatum prepared from embryonic day 19 to postnatal day 4 rat pups were maintained in static culture on clear membrane inserts in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium/F12 (1:1) with 20% horse serum. Some were co-cultured with embryonic day 12-16 ventral mesencephalon and/or embryonic day 19 to postnatal day 4 cortex, which produced a dense dopaminergic innervation and a modest cortical innervation. Donors of striatal and cortical tissue were previously injected with bromo-deoxyuridine (BrdU) on embryonic days 13 and 14 in order to label striatal neurons destined to populate the patch compartment of the striatum. Patches of BrdU-immunoreactive cells were maintained in organotypic cultures of late prenatal (embryonic days 20-22) or early postnatal striatum in the absence of nigral dopaminergic or cortical glutamatergic influences. In slices taken from embryonic day 19 fetuses prior to the time of in vivo patch formation, patches were observed to form after 10 days in vitro, in 39% of nigral-striatal co-cultures compared to 6% of striatal slices cultured alone or in the presence of cortex only. Patches of dopaminergic fibers, revealed by tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity, were observed in the majority of nigral-striatal co-cultures. Immunostaining for the AMPA-type glutamate receptor GluR1 revealed a dense patch distribution in nearly all cultures, which developed in embryonic day 19 cultures after at least six days in vitro. These findings indicate that striatal patch/matrix organization is maintained in organotypic culture, and can be induced to form in vitro in striatal slices removed from fetuses prior to the time of in vivo patch formation. Furthermore, dopaminergic innervation from co-cultured pieces of ventral mesencephalon enhances patch formation in organotypic cultures.