Published in

Wiley, International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience, 1(37), p. 94-99, 2014

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijdevneu.2014.07.001

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Directing mouse embryonic neurosphere differentiation toward an enriched neuronal population

This paper is available in a repository.
This paper is available in a repository.

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Data provided by SHERPA/RoMEO

Abstract

Neural stem cells (NSC) are self-renewing multipotent cells that have emerged as a powerful tool to repair the injured brain. These cells can be cultured as neurospheres, which are floating aggregates of neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPC). Despite their high clonal expansion capacity, it has been suggested that in neurospheres, only a small percentage of cells are capable of proliferation and that this system is not efficient in terms of neurogenic competence. Thus, our aim was to develop a neurosphere culture method with a highly proliferative stem/progenitor cell population and particularly with a prominent neurogenic potential, surpassing some of the claimed weaknesses of the neurosphere assay. In our model, mouse neurospheres were harvested from neural tissue at E15 and after only 4 days-in-vitro (DIV), we have achieved highly proliferative primary neurospheres (81% Sox2 and 76% Ki67 positive cells) and a rather low number of cells expressing glial and neuronal markers (∼10%). After inducing differentiation, we have attained an enriched neuronal population (45% β-III-tubulin positive cells at 15 DIV). Using a simple methodology, we have developed a NSPC model that can provide a valuable source of neuronal precursors, thus offering a potential starting point for cell replacement therapies following CNS injury.