Isolation and purification of primary rodent astrocytes

Astrocytes are a major cell type in the mammalian central nervous system (CNS). The ability to obtain virtually pure populations of these cells makes it possible to study their function as isolated cells or in mixed populations where they support the growth and survival of surrounding neurons. Unlike other mature CNS cells, mature astrocytes maintain the lifelong ability to reenter the cell cycle. The first isolation procedure described in this unit takes advantage of the proliferative ability of these cells, as does the second, except that no antibody or complement treatment is required. A procedure for detecting glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), which is present in most astrocytes in vivo and virtually all astrocytes in vitro and is a useful marker for assessing the purity of cultures, is also presented.