title: Culture and regeneration of human neurons after brain surgery.
abstract: Cortical human brain tissue was obtained from 11 craniotomies for intractable epilepsy or tumor resection. Neuregen transport medium preserved viability at 4 degrees C during transfer to the culture laboratory. Cells were isolated and cultured by methods previously developed for adult rat neurons (Brewer GJ. Isolation and culture of adult rat hippocampal neurons. J. Neurosci. Meth. 1997:71:143-55). In about 40% of the cases, cultures regenerated with a majority of neuron-like cells that stained for neurofilament and not GFAP. After 3 weeks of culture from a 70 year old meningioma case, synapse-like structures were revealed by electron microscopy. Trophic support from basic human recombinant fibroblast growth factor was synergistically improved with the steroid hormone dehydroepiandrosterone 3-sulfate. Another 40% of the cases resulted in cultures that were predominantly GFAP positive astroglia. The remaining 20% of the cases did not regenerate cells with neuron-like or glial processes. Three postmortem cases did not regenerate neurites. These methods may aid development of human culture models of epilepsy as well as human pharmacology, toxicology and development of improved methods for brain grafts.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Biology, Microbiology and Biochemistry, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, IL 62794-9626, USA. gbrewer@siumed.edu
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Brewer
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Espinosa
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: McIlhaney
authors.forename: T P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Pencek
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Kesslak
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cotman
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Viel
authors.forename: D C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: McManus
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001706:Biopsy; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008875:Middle Aged; D009416:Nerve Regeneration / Q000502:physiology*; D016900:Neurofilament Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D016900:Neurofilament Proteins; D016875:tau Proteins; C051774:neurofilament protein H