Growing Neural Stem Cells from Conventional and Nonconventional Regions of the Adult Rodent Brain

Summary

Neural stem cells harvested from the adult brain are increasing utilized in applications ranging from the basic research of nervous system development to exploring potential clinical applications in regenerative medicine. This makes rigorous control in the isolation and culturing conditions used to grow these cells critical to sound experimental outcomes.

Abstract

Recent work demonstrates that central nervous system (CNS) regeneration and tumorigenesis involves populations of stem cells (SCs) resident within the adult brain. However, the mechanisms these normally quiescent cells employ to ensure proper functioning of neural networks, as well as their role in recovery from injury and mitigation of neurodegenerative processes are little understood. These cells reside in regions referred to as "niches" that provide a sustaining environment involving modulatory signals from both the vascular and immune systems. The isolation, maintenance, and differentiation of CNS SCs under defined culture conditions which exclude unknown factors, makes them accessible to treatment by pharmacological or genetic means, thus providing insight into their in vivo behavior. Here we offer detailed information on the methods for generating cultures of CNS SCs from distinct regions of the adult brain and approaches to assess their differentiation potential into neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes in vitro. This technique yields a homogeneous cell population as a monolayer culture that can be visualized to study individual SCs and their progeny. Furthermore, it can be applied across different animal model systems and clinical samples, being used previously to predict regenerative responses in the damaged adult nervous system.

Introduction

The central dogma of neurobiology, laid down by the fundamental observations of the brain cytoarchitecture made by Ramón Y. Cajal over a century ago, held that neurogenesis was unlikely after adolescence given the complexity of the neural networks found in the CNS¹. Despite the work of Altman in the 1960s, and later Kaplan, demonstrating that ³H-thymidine could be found in mature neurons indicating that in fact neurons were being generated in distinct areas of the adult brain, the dogma continued to hold^2,3. Evidence continued to mount with Nottebohm’s research describing the seasonal changes in the num....

Protocol

The work adheres to the Declaration of Helsinski and the ARVO Animal Statement. Animals were used for tissue collection and all relevant methods were followed according to the instructions of the animal facility at the University of Dresden. Animals were handled and housed according to the German Federal guidelines for the use and care of laboratory animals, and the study was approved by the Landesdirektion Dresden. Please consult with your institution’s veterinary policy (IACUC or other board) regarding appropriate euthanasia methodology.

Specific stock and working concentrations of reagents can be found in the Reagent Tables accompa....

Results

Identifying the region of interest from which to harvest neural stem cells is the critical first step and will define the amount of time it takes to get a confluent plate of cells. For example, the SVZ is a classic neurogenic area and therefore has a higher relative proportion of neural stem cells. However, the technique presented here can be used with other regions not often recognized as having a robust neurogenic potential during adulthood. For the purposes of this protocol, we used the anterior commissure (anterior p.......

Discussion

Many of the steps critical to successful isolation, expansion, and differentiation of neural stem cells from the adult brain are shared in common with standard tissue culture techniques. The objective to bear in mind is that NSCs isolated from the adult brain should maintain as many of their in vivo characteristics as possible (Figure 2J). Often a balance between necessary caution and appropriate speed needs to be struck. Care with the isolation of the brain from the skull will make the ide.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
6-well tissue culture dishes	BD Biosciences	353934
Poly-L-ornithine	Sigma-Aldrich	P-3655	5 mg/ml stock solution prepared in double distilled water (Stable for several months at -20 °C). Working concentration 0.5 mg/ml in water (Stable for 1 month at 4 °C).
Fibronectin	R&D Systems	1030-Fn	Do not agitate stock solution
Filtration Apparatus	Corning Life Sciences	430769
DMEM/F-12	Mediatech	10-090-CV	See note below for complete N2 media preparation
Apo-transferrin	Sigma-Aldrich	T-2036
Insulin	Sigma-Aldrich	I-0516
Putrescine	Sigma-Aldrich	P-5780	1 M stock solution in ddH2O (Stable at 20 °C for 6 months)
Sodium Selenite	Sigma-Aldrich	S-5261	500 µM stock solution in ddH2O (Stable at -20 °C for 6 months)
Progesterone	Sigma-Aldrich	P-8783	100 µM stock solution in ethanol (Stable at -20°C for 6 months)
Penicillin/Streptomycin	Invitrogen	15140-122
Phosphate Buffered Saline	Mediatech	21-040-CV
Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor (bFGF)	R&D Systems	233-FB	Working concentration 20 ng/ml
Delta4 (Dll4)	R&D Systems	1389-D4	Working concentration  500 ng/ml
Angiopoetin 2 (Ang2)	R&D Systems	623-AN	Working concentration  500 ng/ml
JAK Inhibitor	Calbiochem	420099	Working concentration 200 nM
Bovine Serum Albumin	Sigma-Aldrich	A-2058
15- and 50-ml Conical tubes	Corning Life Sciences	430053, 430829
Other necessary items include: General dissection instruments, including razor blade and forceps, Adult rat (3-6 months old; Sprague-Dawley or Long Evans), CO2 intoxication chamber, Laminar flow hood for cell culture and incubator Incubator (humidified, 37 °C, 5% CO2, 5% O2). Note: For complete N2 media preparation, to one bottle of DMEM/F-12 (500 ml) add 0.05 g of apotransferin, 0.0125 g of insulin (freshly predissolved in 1 ml of 10 mM NaOH), 50 μl of putrescine, 30 μl of sodium selenite, 100 μl of progesterone stocks, and 5 ml of penicillin/streptomycin solution.  Adjust pH to 7.2, if needed. Filter-sterilize and store at 4 °C for up to 3 weeks and protect from light.
Immunofluorescence Reagents Table
Paraformaldehyde	Electron Microscopy Sciences	15719
Normal Donkey Serum (NDS)	Sigma-Aldrich	D-9663
Triton X-100	Sigma-Aldrich	T-8787
4,6-Diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI)	Sigma-Aldrich	D-8417	5 mg/ml stock solution in methanol
Primary Antibody Table
Nestin	Chemicon	MAB353	Dilution Factor: 1:400 Species: Mouse IgG1
Hes3	Santa Cruz	sc-25393	Dilution Factor: 1:100 Species: Rabbit IgG
Sox2	R&D Systems	MAB2018	Dilution Factor: 1:100 Species: Mouse IgG2a
CNPase	Chemicon	MAB326	Dilution Factor: 1:200 Species: Mouse IgG1
β-tubulin III (TUJ1)	R&D Systems	MAB1195	Dilution Factor: 1:500 Species: Mouse IgG2a
Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP)	Dako North America	Z0334	Dilution Factor 1:500 Species: Rabbit
Secondary Antibody Table
Alexa   568	Invitrogen	A-21124	Dilution Factor: 1:200 Species: Goat anti Mouse IgG1
Alexa 488	Invitrogen	A-21131	Dilution Factor: 1:200 Species: Goat anti Mouse IgG2a
Cy5	Jackson ImmunoResearch	59883	Dilution Factor: 1:200 Species: Goat anti Rabbit