Enzyme-Free Dissociation of Neurospheres by a Microfluidic Chip-Based Method

Neurosphere assay is a common and robust method for identification of neural stem/progenitor cells, but obtaining large numbers of live single cells from dissociated neurospheres is difficult using nonenzymatic methods. Here, we present an enzyme-free method for high-efficiency neurosphere dissociation into single cells using microfluidic device technology. This method allows single cell dissociation of DC115 and KT98 cells with high cell viabilities (80-85 %), single-cell yield (91-95 %), and recovery (75-93 %).