title: Isolation, culture, and differentiation of progenitor cells from the central nervous system.
abstract: INTRODUCTIONThe ability to prospectively identify and characterize neural progenitor cells in vivo has been difficult due to a lack of cell-surface markers specific for these cell types. A widely used in vitro culture method, known as the Neurosphere Assay (NSA), has provided a means to retrospectively identify neural progenitor cells as well as to determine both their self-renewal capacity and their ability to generate the three primary cell types of the nervous system: neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes. Today, combined with the establishment of multiple transgenic mouse strains expressing fluorescent markers and advances in cell isolation techniques such as fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), the NSA provides a powerful system to prospectively elucidate neural progenitor characteristics and functions. Here we describe methods for the isolation, culture, and differentiation of neural progenitors from the developing mouse and adult cortex.
authors.affiliation: UNC Neuroscience Center, Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
authors.forename: Scott R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Hutton
authors.forename: Larysa H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Pevny