Stroke represents one of the leading causes of death and disability in Western countries, only few options exist for the treatment of stroke-related infarction of brain tissue. In experimental stroke, cell therapy can partly reverse some behavioural deficits. The present study was performed to test a murine embryonic stem cell (ESC)-based approach in rats subjected to endothelin-induced middle cerebral artery occlusion. Efficacy of cell therapy regarding graft survival, neuronal yield and diversity, and electrophysiological features of the grafted cells were tested after transplanting ESC-derived neural precursors into the infarct core and periphery. Here, we show that grafted cells can, albeit limitedly, survive within the infarct core for up to 12 weeks after transplantation despite a temporally extended immune response and differentiate with high yield into neurons. Most importantly, transplanted precursor cells matured into functional neurons with synaptic input during the first eight weeks after grafting as shown by morphological and electrophysiological criteria. Thus, our observations demonstrate that embryonic stem cell-based therapeutic approaches can be successful even in an acutely necrotic cellular environment.