General considerations for live imaging of developing hippocampal neurons in culture

Dissociated cell cultures of the rodent hippocampus have become a standard model for studying many facets of neural development, including the development of polarity, axonal and dendritic growth, and synapse formation. The cultures are quite homogeneous--∼90% of the cells are pyramidal neurons--and it is relatively easy to express green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged proteins by transfection. This article describes the cultures and the key features of the system used to image them. It also includes suggestions on labeling cells with GFP-tagged proteins. It concludes with a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of this culture system.