International journal of developmental neuroscience : the official journal of the International Society for Developmental Neuroscience
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Int. J. Dev. Neurosci. · Nov 2011
Comparative StudyA comparison of proliferative capacity and passaging potential between neural stem and progenitor cells in adherent and neurosphere cultures.
Neural stem and progenitor cells (NSPCs) can be isolated from the fetal or adult brain and expanded in culture for potential use in basic research, drug discovery and cell therapy. In the present study, two culture systems have been commonly used to maintain and expand NSPCs isolated from mammalian CNS: neurosphere and adhesive substrate-bound monolayer culture. NSPCs were isolated from the neuroepithelium of E14 embryonic rat cerebral cortex and maintained and expanded on fibronectin substrates or within neurospheres in serum-free medium. ⋯ Whereas, NSPCs in adherent culture could not maintain such robust growth for more than 6 passages. The growth of NSPCs within neurospheres was slower than that in adherent culture, but increased steadily and could be maintained for more than 10 passages. These data provide useful information for large scale in vitro expansion of NSPCs required by potential drug screening and cell therapy.