Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Periventricular leukomalacia is a major syndrome of premature infant brain injury, which has been not prevented and cured yet. Theoretically, neural stem cells which were transplanted into white matter with an absence of oligodendroglial cells might be an ideal method to cure periventricular leukomalacia.

OBJECTIVE: To prepare the multi-lineage potential of neural stem cells for the use of intraventricular transplantation. 

METHODS: Cerebral cortex was obtained from 12-14-day fetal rats and sectioned into 1.0-mm³ sections. The single cell suspension was separated and purified. The neurospheres were incubated with DMEM/F12 culture medium containing fetal bovine serum to observe primary and passage culture of neural stem cells. The differentiation of neural stem cells was determined using immunohistochemical method.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The viability of cultured neural stem cells was (94.3±2.2)%. The neurosphere was formed at day 3 after primary culture. The proliferation of neurosphere slowed down after 10-passage culture, and some cells became old. All neurospheres were positively Nestin-staining, thus they were considered as neural stem cells. A further incubation of 4-passage neurospheres, immunohistochemical method indicated that the neurosphere was positively GFAP, β-tublin, and O4 staining, respectively. This suggested that cultured neural stem cells are able to self-renew, proliferate, and differentiate into neurons, astrocytes and oligodendroglial cells.