An in vitro cell culture system for the aggregation of embryonic chick central nervous system neurons

The use of dissociated neuronal cell cultures is a very widespread technique. It is useful to study specific interactions between cells and resolve molecular mechanisms underlying neural development and function. For instance, the extended family of neurotrophic factors was identified and further studied especially using such techniques. Several growth factors have also been studied in this way as well as other developmental molecules. In this paper we describe a method of culturing chick cortical cells, in the complete absence of serum, which results in an enhanced aggregation of neurons by few days in culture. This cell culture system is particularly convenient to perform functional analyses of various molecules involved in neuronal cell adhesion mechanisms, such as extracellular matrix proteins or cell adhesion molecules, that require the establishment of in vitro paradigms in order to analyze their influence on cell-substratum and cell-cell interactions, as previously reported. We have successfully studied the effect of specific glycoproteins from the subcommissural organ on neuronal cell adhesion using this cell culture system.