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Updated: Feb 27, 2026
Spinal Cord Neurons Isolation and Culture from Neonatal Mice
Published on: July 11, 2017
A new method of isolating spinal motor neurons from fetal mouse
Weifang Wang1, Bao Qi2, Hui Lv3
1Graduate School of Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong Province, People's Republic of China; Department of Neurology, Affiliated Hospital of Jining Medical University, Jining, Shandong Province, People's Republic of China.
Background:
Isolating of primary motor neurons from animal embryos is critical for the study of neurological disease including mechanistic discovery and therapeutic development. Density gradient centrifuge taking advantage of the buoyant of motor neuron permits the enrichment of motor neurons. Despite the metrizamide, an OptiPrep medium has been introduced to separate the motor neurons by gradient centrifuge.
New Method:
We hereby used single density gradient of OptiPrep medium to isolate the spinal motor neurons from the fetal mouse.
Results:
Single density gradient of OptiPrep medium is effective to isolate spinal motor neurons from the fetal mouse. The immunofluorescence staining analysis showed that the purity of cultured motor neurons at 72h was between 90% and 95%.
Comparison With Existing Method:
Four gradients of OptiPrep medium have been previously used to isolate the motor neurons from spinal cord of mouse. In this study, the single gradient of OptiPrep medium was demonstrated to effectively isolate spinal motor neurons from the fetal mouse.
Conclusions:
The single gradient of OptiPrep medium is enough to produce high purity of spinal motor neurons from the fetal mouse.
