Procedure for isolation of neuron- and astrocyte-enriched fractions from chick brain of different ages

A method for the isolation of neurons and astrocytes from chick brain of different ages is described. In brief, the procedure involves incubation of the gray matter with trypsin, passage of the tissue successively through nylon/stainless steel screens of decreasing pore size, and further separation and purification of cell-enriched fractions by centrifugation on Ficoll discontinuous gradient. Phase-contrast microscopy revealed intact morphology of the cells. The cells were viable by trypan blue exclusion test.