Adult neural stem cell isolation from whole rat brain and neurosphere culture and differentiation

Historically, it was thought that neurogenesis ceased by the end of development, but it is currently understood that neurogenesis continues throughout the life of an individual. This continued growth arises from neural stem or progenitor cells (NSCs) located in specific regions of the adult brain, including the subventricular zone and the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. Increased understanding of the nature of these cells and their reaction to environmental stimuli is of paramount importance in the effort to discern their role and potential use in repair following neurological disruption. Neurosphere suspension culture is identified as an effective way of actualizing a self-renewing population of neural stem cells. This study demonstrated that adult rat neural stem cells could be effectively induced to differentiate into cells of astrocytic lineage through exposure to fetal bovine serum (FBS), and that the same population of precursor cells could be induced toward neuronal lineage through exposure to dibutyryl cyclic adenosine monophosphate (dcAMP). There were also observations noted regarding difficulty inducing cell attachment following enzymatic digestion of neurospheres, and potential effects on various types of assays, including migration assays (Fig. 7, Ref. 31). Keywords: neural, stem cell, neurosphere, adult rat, cell culture, cell differentiation.