Isolation and characterization of adult microglial cells and oligodendrocytes derived from postmortem human brain tissue.
The present study provides a detailed description of the simultaneous establishment and immunocytochemical characterization of highly enriched human adult microglial cell cultures as well as of oligodendrocyte cultures. For this study, brain tissue specimens were collected at autopsy with relatively short postmortem times (3-9 h) from various regions of the CNS of Alzheimer's disease, Pick's disease and non-demented control cases. Although methods to isolate viable glial cells from human adult brain tissue have been described, these human brain specimens were often derived from surgical resections, i.e., in order to treat intractable epilepsy, brain tumors or cardiovascular diseases involving the brain. However, for the study of many neurological disorders, surgical material is not available. Furthermore, for obvious reasons, there is a limit to the number of central nervous system (CNS) regions from which (enough) tissue can be obtained at surgery. The adherent primary microglial cells, isolated according to the here described procedures consisted of proliferating, phagocytotic cells that expressed various microglia/macrophage-specific markers as judged by immunocytochemical analysis. Non-adherent cells isolated from the same brain tissue samples expressed oligodendrocyte-specific markers. The current described culture system may provide a valuable tool in studying human CNS biology and disease.
De Groot
C J
CJ
Research Institute Neurosciences Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Department of Pathology, Division of Neuropathology, Academic Hospital, Vrije Universiteit, PO Box 7057, 1007 MB, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. cja.degroot@azvu.nl
Montagne
L
L
Janssen
I
I
Ravid
R
R
Van Der Valk
P
P
Veerhuis
R
R
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000473:pathology; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D002102:Cadaver; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002455:Cell Division / Q000502:physiology; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000166:cytology; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II / Q000032:analysis / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D008297:Male; D017628:Microglia / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009836:Oligodendroglia / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology; D010587:Phagocytosis / Q000502:physiology; D020774:Pick Disease of the Brain / Q000473:pathology
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000949:Histocompatibility Antigens Class II