Abstract:

BACKGROUND: There have been few reports describing the proliferation and differentiation characteristics of neural stem cells from rats of different ages.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate the in vitro isolation, culture and identification of spinal cord neural stem cells from rats of different ages.
METHODS: Spinal cord from rats of different ages was taken and prepared into single cell suspension. Primary cells at 5.0×105/L were cultured with DMEM/F12 medium containing epidermal growth factor, basic fibroblast growth and B27 and then passaged once every other day.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Cells could be cultured from different ages of rat spinal cord. The suspending cell spheres, named neural stem cell spheres showed compact structure and were of different sizes. After passage, single cells proliferated rapidly and form neurospheres and the number increased obviously. Neural stem cell spheres can be in vitro cultured from the spinal cord of rats at different ages.