Isolation and Expansion of the Adult Mouse Neural Stem Cells Using the Neurosphere Assay
Summary
This video protocol demonstrates the neurosphere assay method to generate and expand neural stem cells from the adult mouse periventricular region, and provides technical insights to ensure one can achieve reproducible neurosphere cultures.
Abstract
Isolation and expansion of the putative neural stem cells (NSCs) from the adult murine brain was first described by Reynolds and Weiss in 1992 employing a chemically defined serum-free culture system known as the neurosphere assay (NSA). In this assay, the majority of differentiated cell types die within a few days of culture but a small population of growth factor responsive precursor cells undergo active proliferation in the presence of epidermal growth factor (EGF) and/ basic fibroblastic growth factor (bFGF). These cells form colonies of undifferentiated cells called neurospheres, which in turn can be subcultured to expand the pool of neural stem cells. Moreover, the cells can be induced to differentiate, generating the three major cell types of the CNS i.e. neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes. This assay provides an invaluable tool to supply a consistent, renewable source of undifferentiated CNS precursors, which could be used for in vitro studies and also for therapeutic purposes.
This video demonstrates the NSA method to generate and expand NSCs from the adult mouse periventricular region, and provides technical insights to ensure one can achieve reproducible neurosphere cultures. The procedure includes harvesting the brain from the adult mouse, micro-dissection of the periventricular region, tissue preparation and culture in the NSA. The harvested tissue is first chemically digested using trypsin-EDTA and then mechanically dissociated in NSC medium to achieve a single cell suspension and finally plated in the NSA. After 7-10 days in culture, the resulting primary neurospheres are ready for subculture to reach the amount of cells required for future experiments.
Protocol
Discussion
The neurosphere assay 2 has gained broad attention in the research community not only for the isolation and study of NSCs from CNS 4-5 but also for the isolation of other types of putative stem cells from numerous tissues, such as breast 6 and heart 7 and for the identification of brain, breast and colon tumor stem cells 8-9 suggesting that this culture system can be applied to a number of somatic and tumor precursor cell populations throughout the body. Some of the …
Disclosures
The authors have nothing to disclose.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by funding from the Overstreet Foundation.
Materials
| Material Name | Type | Company | Catalogue Number | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NeuroCult NSC Basal Medium | Medium | Stem Cell Technologies | 05700 | |
| NeuroCult NSC Proliferation Supplements | Medium supplement | Stem Cell Technologies | 05701 | |
| %0.05 trypsin-EDTA | Reagent | Gibco | 25300-062 | |
| Soybean trypsin inhibitor | Reagent | Sigma | T6522 | |
| Cell strainer | Sieve | BD Falcon | 352340 | |
| T25 flask | Culture ware | Nalge Nunc international | 136196 | |
| T80 flask | Culture ware | Nalge Nunc international | 178905 | |
| EGF | Growth factor | R&D | 2028-EG | |
| Pen/Strep | Reagent | Gibco | 15140-122 | |
| *MEM | Reagent | Gibco | 41500-018 | HEM component |
| *HEPES | Reagent | Sigma | H4034 | HEM component |
| *Distilled water | Reagent | Gibco | 15230-147 | |
| 15 ml tubes | Culture ware | BD Falcon | 352096 | |
| 50 ml tubes | Culture ware | BD Falcon | 352070 | |
| Fine curved forceps | Surgical tools | Fine Science Tools | 11251‐35 | |
| Small fine forceps | Surgical tools | Fine Science Tools | 11272‐30 | |
| Small forceps | Surgical tools | Fine Science Tools | 11050‐10 | |
| b-FGF | Growth factor | R&D | 3139-FB | |
| Heparin | Growth factor | Sigma | H4784 | Reconstituted in PBS |
*To make HEM, mix 1×10L packet of MEM and160ml of 1M HEPES and bring the volume to 8.75 L using distilled water. Set the final PH to 7.4 and store it at 4°C.
References
- Louis, S. A., Reynolds, B. A. Neurosphere and Neural Colony-Forming Cell Assays. Protocols for Neural Cell Culture. 10, 1-28 (2010).
- Reynolds, B. A., Weiss, S. Generation of neurons and astrocytes from isolated cells of the adult mammalian central nervous system. Science. 255, 1707-1710 (1992).
- Sen, A., Kallos, M. S., Behie, L. A. New tissue dissociation protocol for scaled-up production of neural stem cells in suspension bioreactors. Tissue Eng. 10, 904-913 (2004).
- Morshead, C. M. Neural stem cells in the adult mammalian forebrain: a relatively quiescent subpopulation of subependymal cells. Neuron. 13, 1071-1082 (1994).
- Golmohammadi, M. G. Comparative analysis of the frequency and distribution of stem and progenitor cells in the adult mouse brain. Stem Cells. 26, 979-987 (2008).
- Dontu, G. In vitro propagation and transcriptional profiling of human mammary stem/progenitor cells. Genes Dev. 17, 1253-1270 (2003).
- Messina, E. Isolation and expansion of adult cardiac stem cells from human and murine heart. Circ Res. 95, 911-921 (2004).
- Ignatova, T. N. Human cortical glial tumors contain neural stem-like cells expressing astroglial and neuronal markers in vitro. Glia. 39, 193-206 (2002).
- Galli, R. Isolation and characterization of tumorigenic, stem-like neural precursors from human glioblastoma. Cancer Res. 64, 7011-7021 (2004).
- Reynolds, B. A., Rietze, R. L. Neural stem cells and neurospheres–re-evaluating the relationship. Nat Methods. 2, 333-336 (2005).
- Louis, S. A. Enumeration of Neural Stem and Progenitor Cells in the Neural Colony Forming Cell Assay. Stem Cells. , (2008).
