Isolation, culture, and differentiation of progenitor cells from the central nervous system.

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.