Abstract. Following Procesi and Formanek, the center of the division ring of n × n generic matrices over the complex numbers C is stably equivalent to the fixed field under the action of Sn, of the function field of the group algebra of a ZSn-lattice, denoted by Gn. We study the question of the stable rationality of the center Cn over the complex numbers when n is a prime, in this module theoretic setting. Let N be the normalizer of an n-sylow subgroup of Sn. Let M be a ZSn-lattice. We show that under certain conditions on M , inductionrestriction from N to Sn does not affect the stable type of the corresponding field. In particular, C(Gn) and C(ZG ⊗ ZN Gn) are stably isomorphic and the isomorphism preserves the Sn-action. We further reduce the problem to the study of the localization of Gn at the prime n; all other primes behave well. We also present new simple proofs for the stable rationality of Cn over C, in the cases n = 5 and n = 7.