We thank the Opal lab members for their suggestions. This work was supported by NIH grants 1RO1 NS062051 and 1RO1NS08251 (Opal P)

All animal experiments were performed in compliance with the NIH&#8217;s Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (2011) and were approved by the Northwestern University IACUC (Protocol IS00011368).
1. Preparation of Solutions
<ol>
	<li>Prepare tissue dissociation solution made from sterile phenol red-containing Dulbecco&#8217;s phosphate-buffered saline (DPBS) with papain (100 U/ml), cysteine (0.2 mg/ml) and DNase (250 U/ml).</li>
	<li>To prepare DNase solution dilute&#160;100 mg of the lyophilized powder of DNase I (one bottle) in 50 mL of H2O. Mix well and filter the stock solution. Prepare 10 mL stock aliquots. Divide one stock tube into 0.5 mL single use aliquots. Store these single use aliquots at -80 &#176;C.</li>
	<li>Prepare magnetic separation reagents by preparing magnetic column buffer X: 0.5% bovine serum albumin (BSA) and 2 mM EDTA solution.</li>
	<li>To prepare neurosphere media, use neurobasal medium containing penicillin/streptomycin with L-glutamine and supplement with 2% B27, 20 ng/mL human recombinant epidermal growth factor (EGF), and 20 ng/mL human recombinant basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF).</li>
	<li>To prepare differentiation media, use neurobasal medium and supplement with 10 ng/mL differentiated factor platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF-AA) or 10 ng/mL leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) and 2% B27.</li>
	<li>Use ultra-low attachment 12 well (3.5 cm2) and 6 well (9.6 cm2) culture plates.</li>
</ol>
2. Dissection of Cerebellum
<ol>
	<li>Anesthetize mouse pups (P3-P7) with isoflurane and decapitate using surgical scissors.</li>
	<li>Spray the separated head of the pups with 70% ethanol.</li>
	<li>Transfer each head into an empty sterile 10 cm culture dish. Separate the skin using the microdissection scissors, then remove the skull by running the scissors sagittal along the midline.</li>
	<li>Using #7 forceps, peel off the skull bones starting caudally from the brainstem. Carefully lift the brain using a spatula, keeping the cerebellum intact, and transfer the brain to a fresh sterile 10.0 cm dish containing 15 mL of ice-cold Hanks&#39; Balanced Salt solution (HBSS) solution.</li>
	<li>Place the dish containing the brain under a dissection microscope. Using fine #5 forceps, remove the meninges and large blood vessels from the cerebellum and separate the cerebellum from the brainstem using the spatula.</li>
	<li>Transfer the cerebellum into a 15 mL centrifuge tube containing 5.0 mL of ice-cold HBSS solution. Wash the cerebellum by rinsing and decanting 3x with 5.0 mL of HBSS. 
	NOTE: Each cerebellum should be placed in its own tube for further processing.</li>
</ol>
3. Cell Suspension Preparation
<ol>
	<li>After the last rinse, add 5 mL of papain-based tissue dissociation solution (based on previous work13,18) that has been pre-warmed to 37 &#176;C. Incubate the tissue for 15 min at 37 &#176;C in a water bath. Slowly mix the content by inverting the tube up and down 3x&#8211;5x every 3 min either using a nutating mixer or by hand.</li>
	<li>Prepare a wide diameter (regular glass pipette) and narrow diameter Pasteur pipette (fire-polished by heating over a Bunsen burner) as described previously19.</li>
	<li>Wash the tissue 3x with 5 mL of HBSS solution, avoiding loss of the tissue while decanting by hand.</li>
	<li>Remove the last HBSS wash and add 5 mL of DPBS solution containing 250 &#956;L of DNase solution to the tissue. Dissociate the tissue by triturating 10x&#8211;15x using the wide diameter Pasteur pipette. Perform this step gently to avoid the formation of bubbles.</li>
	<li>Then incubate the slurry for an additional 10 min at 37 &#176;C in the water bath, mixing by inverting and straightening the tube.</li>
	<li>Use the reduced diameter Pasteur pipette to further triturate the tissue slurry 10x. If large pieces of tissue remain, press the tissue pieces against the bottom of the tube with the tip of the pipette gently and continue pipetting until the cells reach a fine suspension.</li>
	<li>Incubate the tissue at 37 &#176;C for an additional 10 min, repeating the previous mixing steps.</li>
</ol>
4. Immunolabeling of Stem Cells
<ol>
	<li>Place the centrifuge tubes on ice and use ice-cold solutions for the next steps. Strain the dissociated cells through a 40 &#956;m cell strainer into a 50 mL centrifuge tube. Top the filter with 10.0 mL of HBSS solution to ensure that cells pass through the mesh in this additional solution.</li>
	<li>Transfer the filtered cells into a fresh 15 mL centrifuge tube and centrifuge the cell suspension at 300 x g for 10 min at 4 &#176;C. Aspirate and discard the supernatant completely by&#160;carefully using a vacuum aspirator.</li>
	<li>Resuspend the pellet in 160 &#956;L of magnetic column buffer. To obtain the single-cell suspension before magnetic labeling, pass cells through a 30 &#956;m nylon mesh to remove cell clumps, which can otherwise clog the column.</li>
	<li>Add 40 &#956;L of anti-prominin-1 microbeads to each 15 mL tube, mix, and incubate in a refrigerator for 15 min in order for the antibody to bind to prominin-1-expressing cells.</li>
	<li>Wash the cells by adding 1.0&#8211;2.0 mL of column buffer X and centrifuge at 300 x g for 10 min. Aspirate the supernatant completely.</li>
	<li>Resuspend the pellet in 1.0 mL of column&#160;buffer X. 
	NOTE: If small clumps are seen after the resuspension of pellet with 1.0 mL of column buffer X, they&#160;should be removed carefully using a tip of the Pasteur pipette,&#160;otherwise&#160;these clumps can block the magnetic column during cell sorting.</li>
</ol>
5. Magnetic Column Preparation, Cell Sorting, and Plating
NOTE: The magnetic separation from different genotype conditions (disease vs. control) must be performed at same time, since any delay may affect the neurosphere morphology.
<ol>
	<li>Prepare the magnetic columns by placing them on the magnetic stand exposed to the magnetic field. Rinse the column once with 500 &#956;L of buffer X by applying buffer that drips into a centrifuge tube to be discarded. 
	NOTE: Prepare fresh magnetic column buffer X for each experiment; if not, then stem cell yield will be low.</li>
	<li>Apply the labeled cell suspension onto the column. Collect the flowthrough containing unlabeled cells that mainly consist of cerebellar neuronal/glial mixed cells into fresh 15 mL tubes (Figure 1A).</li>
	<li>Wash the column 3x with 500 &#956;L of buffer X (each wash takes around 2&#8211;4 min). 
	NOTE: Cerebellar neuronal/glial mixed culture enriched with cerebellar granular neurons can serve as a useful byproduct of this purification step.</li>
	<li>Remove the column from the magnetic field and place in a 1.5 mL tube. Add 1.0 mL of culture medium (neurosphere medium) to the column and push the plunger into the column to flush out the cells tagged with prominin-1 beads into a fresh 1.5 mL falcon tube.</li>
	<li>To enhance the purity of prominin-1 labeled cells, pass the eluted cells over a second column following steps 5.1&#8211;5.4.</li>
	<li>Count the cells with a hemocytometer. The typical yield is 107 cells per cerebellum. Plate the cells onto ultra-low attachment plates (6 or 12 well, based on the density required for downstream experiments).</li>
</ol>
6. Passaging of Neurospheres and Differentiation
<ol>
	<li>Plate the prominin-1-labeled stem cells on ultra-low attachment 12 well plates in neurosphere medium (5,000 cells/well).</li>
	<li>After 7&#8211;10 days, the cells divide to yield ball shaped floating neurospheres (primary neurospheres). 
	NOTE: In this experiment, secondary neurospheres that expand in numbers are generated for further use. Primary neurosphere populations are not used for these experiments, since they may contain contaminating cells that do not have stem cell properties and can clump together with neurospheres.</li>
	<li>For passaging, transfer the primary neurospheres along with the culture media using 1.0 mL pipette tips to a 15 mL sterile centrifuge tube. Pellet the neurospheres by centrifugation at 300 x g for 5 min and discard the supernatant.</li>
	<li>Resuspend the pellet in 5 mL of tissue dissociation media that contains papain or 0.05% trypsin solution. Incubate at 37 &#176;C for 10 min.</li>
	<li>Centrifuge the cell suspension at 300 x g for 5 min. Resuspend the cells in 5 mL of neurosphere medium and dissociate the cells mechanically using a plastic Pasteur pipette and slowly&#160;pipetting up and down 10x.</li>
	<li>Plate the cells (again) in neurosphere media as described earlier. After 7&#8211;10 days in culture, the plate should be enriched with secondary neurospheres. 
	NOTE: These cultures can be passaged up to 8x with good efficiency, after which neurosphere size tends to be smaller and suggestive of a decrease in proliferation.</li>
	<li>Count the cells on the hemocytometer and plate the optimal number for future experiments on poly-D-lysine coated plates (6 or 12 wells).</li>
	<li>To differentiate the stem cells, collect neurospheres from the second to eighth passage by centrifugation as described earlier, except add differentiation medium to the pellet. 
	NOTE:&#160;After&#160;7 days in vitro, the stem cells differentiate into neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes, as demonstrated by staining with the neuronal marker &#946;-III tubulin, astrocytic marker GFAP, and oligodendrocyte maker O4.</li>
</ol>

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No conflicts of interest are declared.

Prominin-1-expressing cerebellar stem cells reside in the prospective white matter during the first 3 weeks of postnatal life. Their proliferation is tightly controlled by the sonic hedgehog pathway supported by Purkinje cells17. These stem cells/progenitors contribute to later-born GABAergic interneurons called basket cells and stellate cells. These interneurons reside in the molecular layer, where they synapse onto Purkinje cells and sculpt PC topography and function via GABAergic inhibition<sup...

The cerebellum has been long recognized as a major neuronal circuit coordinating voluntary movement1. It receives input from the wide swathes of the neuroaxis, which includes proprioceptive information from the periphery, so as to fine tune motor output&#160;and coordinate motion. More recently, it has also been implicated in regulating cognition and emotions by potentially using similar information processing networks2,3,4.
The adult cerebellum is composed of an outer cerebellar cortex and inner white matter. Interspersed within these structures are deep intracerebellar nuclei. Similar to the rest of the nervous system, the development of the cerebellum is driven by the proliferation of multipotent progenitor cells (stem cells) that migrate and differentiate to yield this well-organized structure. In early development (E10.5&#8211;E13.5), a ventricular stem niche around the developing fourth ventricle generates GABAergic neurons (i.e., Purkinje cells, Lugaro cells, Golgi cells) along with Bergmann glia5,6,7,8.
Later in development (postnatal week one), a second stem cell niche in the rhombic lip generates MATH1- and Nestin-expressing progenitors that give rise to excitatory granule neurons9,10,11,12. Recently a third stem cell niche has been described13. These cells express prominin-1 (also known as CD133), a membrane-spanning glycoprotein that defines a subset of stem cells in the intestine and hematopoietic systems14,15,16. In vivo fate mapping shows that these stem cells generate key molecular layer interneurons (i.e., basket cells and stellate cells), along with astrocytes, during the first three postnatal weeks. In the past, it has been difficult to study these cells in vitro because prior methods have required costly and time-consuming techniques (i.e., fluorescence-activated cell sorting [FACS]) that are dependent on prominin-1 staining12,13,17. This protocol describes an immunomagnetic-based method for the isolation of these stem cells that can then be readily cultured and differentiated.

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>0.05%Trypsin</td>
			<td>Thermo Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>25300054</td>
			<td>0.05%</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>2% B27</td>
			<td>Gibco; Thermo Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>17504001</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>2mM EDTA solution</td>
			<td>Corning</td>
			<td>46-034-CI</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Anti- Prominin-1 microbeads</td>
			<td>Miltenyi Biote</td>
			<td>130-092-333</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>bovine serum albumin</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>A9418</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Column MultiStand</td>
			<td>Miltenyi Biotec</td>
			<td>130-042-303</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>culture plates ultra - low attachment</td>
			<td>Corning</td>
			<td>3473</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>cysteine</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>C7880</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>DNase</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>D4513-1VL</td>
			<td>250 U/ml</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Dulbecco&#8217;s Phosphate Buffer Saline</td>
			<td>Thermo Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>14040141</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Hank&#39;s balanced salt solution-HBSS</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>14025-092</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Human recombinant Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor</td>
			<td>Promega</td>
			<td>G507A</td>
			<td>20 ng/ml</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Human recombinant Epidermal Growth Factor</td>
			<td>Promega</td>
			<td>G502A</td>
			<td>20 ng/ml</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Leukemia Inhibitory Factor</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>L5158</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>l-glutamine</td>
			<td>Gibco</td>
			<td>25030081</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Microscopy</td>
			<td>Lieca TCS SP5 confocal microscopes</td>
			<td></td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>MiniMACS separator</td>
			<td>Miltenyi Biotec</td>
			<td>130-042-102</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>mouse anti-Prominin-1</td>
			<td>Affymetrix eBioscience</td>
			<td>14-1331</td>
			<td>1 in 100</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Nestin</td>
			<td>Abcam</td>
			<td>ab27952</td>
			<td>1 in 200</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Neurobasal medium</td>
			<td>Thermo Fisher</td>
			<td>25030081</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>O4</td>
			<td>Millopore</td>
			<td>MAB345</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Papain</td>
			<td>Worthington</td>
			<td>LS003126</td>
			<td>(100 U/ml)</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Platelet- Derived Growth Factor</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>H8291</td>
			<td>10 ng/ml</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Poly-D-Lysine</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>P6407</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>rabbit anti-tubulin, b-III</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>T2200</td>
			<td>1 in 500</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Rabit anti-GFAP</td>
			<td>Dako</td>
			<td>Z0334</td>
			<td>1 in 500</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Separation columns-MS columns</td>
			<td>Miltenyi Biotec</td>
			<td>130-042-201</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Sterile cell strainer</td>
			<td>Fisher Scientific</td>
			<td>22363547</td>
			<td>40um</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

purification of prominin-1+ stem cells from postnatal mouse cerebellum

Most cerebellar neurons arise from two embryonic stem niches: a rhombic lip niche, which generates all the cerebellar excitatory glutamatergic neurons, and a ventricular zone niche, which generates the inhibitory GABAergic Purkinje cells, which are neurons that constitute the deep cerebellar nuclei and Bergman glia. Recently, a third stem cell niche has been described that arises as a secondary germinal zone from the ventricular zone niche. The cells of this niche are defined by the cell surface marker prominin-1 and are localized to the developing white matter of the postnatal cerebellum. This niche accounts for the late born molecular layer GABAergic interneurons along with postnatally generated cerebellar astrocytes. In addition to their developmental role, this niche is gaining translational importance in regards to its involvement in neurodegeneration and tumorigenesis. The biology of these cells has been difficult to decipher because of a lack of efficient techniques for their purification. Demonstrated here are efficient methods to purify, culture, and differentiate these postnatal cerebellar stem cells.

Prominin-1-positive postnatal cerebellar stem cells formed neurospheres in neurosphere medium rich in growth factors (EGF and bFGF). These neurospheres were positive for prominin-1-staining, the marker used for isolation, and also as a stain for other stem cell markers such as Nestin and GFAP13 (Figure 1). The stem cell marker expression was maintained throughout culture and for up to at least eight passages20. Upon withdrawal of growth factors...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Purification of Prominin-1+ Stem Cells from Postnatal Mouse Cerebellum at JoVE.com

Purification of Prominin-1+ Stem Cells from Postnatal Mouse Cerebellum

Demonstrated here is an efficient and cost-effective method to purify, culture, and differentiate white matter stem cells from postnatal mouse cerebellum.

Purification of Prominin-1+ Stem Cells from Postnatal Mouse Cerebellum

Most cerebellar neurons arise from two embryonic stem niches: a rhombic lip niche, which generates all the cerebellar excitatory glutamatergic neurons, ...

purification-of-prominin-1-stem-cells-from-postnatal-mouse-cerebellum

Research

JoVE Journal

Neuroscience

5.8K Views.  Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine Chicago. Demonstrated here is an efficient and cost-effective method to purify, culture, and differentiate white matter stem cells from postnatal mouse cerebellum.

Video: Purification of Prominin-1+ Stem Cells from Postnatal Mouse Cerebellum

Isolation and Culture of Neural Crest Cells from Embryonic Murine Neural Tube

The embryonic neural crest (NC) is a multipotent progenitor population that originates at the dorsal aspect of the neural tube, undergoes an epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) and migrates throughout the embryo, giving rise to diverse cell types 1-3. NC also has the unique ability to influence the differentiation and maturation of target organs4-6. When explanted in vitro, NC progenitors undergo self-renewal, migrate and differentiate into a variety of tissue types including neurons, glia, smooth muscle cells, cartilage and bone. 
NC multipotency was first described from explants of the avian neural tube7-9. In vitro isolation of NC cells facilitates the study of NC dynamics including proliferation, migration, and multipotency. Further work in the avian and rat systems demonstrated that explanted NC cells retain their NC potential when transplanted back into the embryo10-13. Because these inherent cellular properties are preserved in explanted NC progenitors, the neural tube explant assay provides an attractive option for studying the NC in vitro. 
To attain a better understanding of the mammalian NC, many methods have been employed to isolate NC populations. NC-derived progenitors can be cultured from post-migratory locations in both the embryo and adult to study the dynamics of post-migratory NC progenitors11,14-20, however isolation of NC progenitors as they emigrate from the neural tube provides optimal preservation of NC cell potential and migratory properties13,21,22. Some protocols employ fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) to isolate a NC population enriched for particular progenitors11,13,14,17. However, when starting with early stage embryos, cell numbers adequate for analyses are difficult to obtain with FACS, complicating the isolation of early NC populations from individual embryos. Here, we describe an approach that does not rely on FACS and results in an approximately 96% pure NC population based on a Wnt1-Cre activated lineage reporter23. 
The method presented here is adapted from protocols optimized for the culture of rat NC11,13. The advantages of this protocol compared to previous methods are that 1) the cells are not grown on a feeder layer, 2) FACS is not required to obtain a relatively pure NC population, 3) premigratory NC cells are isolated and 4) results are easily quantified. Furthermore, this protocol can be used for isolation of NC from any mutant mouse model, facilitating the study of NC characteristics with different genetic manipulations. The limitation of this approach is that the NC is removed from the context of the embryo, which is known to influence the survival, migration and differentiation of the NC2,24-28.

Isolation of embryonic neural crest from the neural tube facilitates the use of in vitro methods for studying migration, self-renewal, and multipotency of neural crest.

The embryonic neural crest (NC) is a multipotent progenitor population that originates at the dorsal aspect of the neural tube, undergoes an epithelial to ...

Feeder-free Derivation of Neural Crest Progenitor Cells from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) have great potential for studying human embryonic development, for modeling human diseases in the dish and as a source of transplantable cells for regenerative applications after disease or accidents. Neural crest (NC) cells are the precursors for a large variety of adult somatic cells, such as cells from the peripheral nervous system and glia, melanocytes and mesenchymal cells. They are a valuable source of cells to study aspects of human embryonic development, including cell fate specification and migration. Further differentiation of NC progenitor cells into terminally differentiated cell types offers the possibility to model human diseases in vitro, investigate disease mechanisms and generate cells for regenerative medicine. This article presents the adaptation of a currently available in vitro differentiation protocol for the derivation of NC cells from hPSCs. This new protocol requires 18 days of differentiation, is feeder-free, easily scalable and highly reproducible among human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines as well as human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) lines. Both old and new protocols yield NC cells of equal identity.

Neural crest (NC) cells derived from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) have great potential for modeling human development and disease and for cell replacement therapies. Here, a feeder-free adaptation of the currently widely used in vitro differentiation protocol for the derivation of NC cells from hPSCs is presented.

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) have great potential for studying human embryonic development, for modeling human diseases in the dish and as a ...

Isolation of Distinct Cell Populations from the Developing Cerebellum by Microdissection

Microdissection is a novel technique that can isolate specific regions of a tissue and eliminate contamination from cellular sources in adjacent areas. This method was first utilized in the study of Nestin-expressing progenitors (NEPs), a newly identified population of cells in the cerebellar external germinal layer (EGL). Using microdissection in combination with fluorescent-activated cell sorting (FACS), a pure population of NEPs was collected separately from conventional granule neuron precursors in the EGL and from other contaminating Nestin-expressing cells in the cerebellum. Without microdissection, functional analyses of NEPs would not have been possible with the current methods available, such as Percoll gradient centrifugation and laser capture microdissection. This technique can also be applied for use with various tissues that contain either recognizable regions or fluorescently-labeled cells. Most importantly, a major advantage of this microdissection technique is that isolated cells are living and can be cultured for further experimentation, which is currently not possible with other described methods.

Nestin-expressing&#160;progenitors are a newly identified population of neuronal progenitors in the developing cerebellum. Using the microdissection technique presented here in combination with fluorescent-activated cell sorting, this cell population can be purified with no contamination from other cerebellar regions and can be cultured for further studies.

Microdissection is a novel technique that can isolate specific regions of a tissue and eliminate contamination from cellular sources in adjacent areas. ...

Purification of Mouse Brain Vessels

In the brain, most of the vascular system consists of a selective barrier, the blood-brain barrier (BBB) that regulates the exchange of molecules and immune cells between the brain and the blood. Moreover, the huge neuronal metabolic demand requires a moment-to-moment regulation of blood flow. Notably, abnormalities of these regulations are etiological hallmarks of most brain pathologies; including glioblastoma, stroke, edema, epilepsy, degenerative diseases (ex: Parkinson&#8217;s disease, Alzheimer&#8217;s disease), brain tumors, as well as inflammatory conditions such as multiple sclerosis, meningitis and sepsis-induced brain dysfunctions. Thus, understanding the signaling events modulating the cerebrovascular physiology is a major challenge. Much insight into the cellular and molecular properties of the various cell types that compose the cerebrovascular system can be gained from primary culture or cell sorting from freshly dissociated brain tissue. However, properties such as cell polarity, morphology and intercellular relationships are not maintained in such preparations. The protocol that we describe here is designed to purify brain vessel fragments, whilst maintaining structural integrity. We show that isolated vessels consist of endothelial cells sealed by tight junctions that are surrounded by a continuous basal lamina. Pericytes, smooth muscle cells as well as the perivascular astrocyte endfeet membranes remain attached to the endothelial layer. Finally, we describe how to perform immunostaining experiments on purified brain vessels.

We describe a protocol allowing the purification of the mouse brain's vascular compartment. Isolated brain vessels include endothelial cells linked by tight junctions and surrounded by a continuous basal lamina, pericytes, vascular smooth muscle cells, as well as perivascular astroglial membranes.

In the brain, most of the vascular system consists of a selective barrier, the blood-brain barrier (BBB) that regulates the exchange of molecules and ...

Isolation and Culture of Adult Neural Stem Cells from the Mouse Subcallosal Zone

Adult neural stem cells (aNSCs) can be used for the regeneration of damaged brain tissue. NSCs have the potential for differentiation and proliferation into three types of cells: neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes. Identifying aNSC-derived regions and characterizing the aNSC properties are critical for the potential use of aNSCs and for the elucidation of their role in neural regeneration. The subcallosal zone (SCZ), located between white matter and the hippocampus, has recently been reported to contain aNSCs and continuously give rise to neuroblasts. A low percentage of aNSCs from the SCZ is differentiated into neurons; most cells are differentiated into glial cells, such as oligodendrocytes and astrocytes. These cells are suggested to have a therapeutic potential for traumatic cortical injury. This protocol describes in detail the process to generate SCZ-aNSCs from an adult mouse brain. A brain matrix with intervals of 1 mm is used to obtain the SCZ-containing coronal slices and to precisely dissect the SCZ from the whole brain. The SCZ sections are initially subjected to a neurosphere culture. A well-developed culture system allows for the verification of their characteristics and can increase research on NSCs. A neurosphere culture system provides a useful tool for determining proliferation and collecting the genuine NSCs. A monolayer culture is also an in vitro system to assay proliferation and differentiation. Significantly, this culture system provides a more homogenous environment for NSCs than the neurosphere culture system. Thus, using a discrete brain region, these culture systems will be helpful for expanding our knowledge about aNSCs and their applications for therapeutic uses.

Establishing culture systems for the expansion of adult neural stem cells (aNSCs) allows for the examination and application of aNSCs for therapy. The subcallosal zone (SCZ) has recently been recognized as a novel neuroblast-forming region in adult mice. Here, methods for the isolation, expansion, and differentiation of SCZ-aNSCs are described.

Adult neural stem cells (aNSCs) can be used for the regeneration of damaged brain tissue. NSCs have the potential for differentiation and proliferation ...

Homochronic Transplantation of Interneuron Precursors into Early Postnatal Mouse Brains

Neuronal fate determination and maturation requires an intricate interplay between genetic programs and environmental signals. However, disentangling the roles of intrinsic vs. extrinsic mechanisms that regulate this differentiation process is a conundrum for all developmental neurobiologists. This issue is magnified for GABAergic interneurons, an incredibly heterogeneous cell population that is born from transient embryonic structures and undergo a protracted migratory phase to disperse throughout the telencephalon. To explore how different brain environments affect interneuron fate and maturation, we developed a protocol for harvesting fluorescently labeled immature interneuron precursors from specific brain regions in newborn mice (P0-P2). At this age, interneuron migration is nearly complete and these cells are residing in their final resting environments with relatively little synaptic integration. Following collection of single cell solutions via flow cytometry, these interneuron precursors are transplanted into P0-P2 wildtype postnatal pups. By performing both homotopic (e.g., cortex-to-cortex) or heterotopic (e.g., cortex-to-hippocampus) transplantations, one can assess how challenging immature interneurons in new brain environments affects their fate, maturation, and circuit integration. Brains can be harvested in adult mice and assayed with a wide variety of posthoc analysis on grafted cells, including immunohistochemical, electrophysiological and transcriptional profiling. This general approach provides investigators with a strategy to assay how distinct brain environments can influence numerous aspects of neuron development and identify if specific neuronal characteristics are primarily driven by hardwired genetic programs or environmental cues.

Challenging young neurons in new brain regions can reveal important insights into how the environment sculpts neuronal fate and maturation. This protocol describes a procedure to harvest interneuron precursors from specific brain regions and transplant them either homotopically or heterotopically into the brain of postnatal pups.

Neuronal fate determination and maturation requires an intricate interplay between genetic programs and environmental signals. However, disentangling the ...

Isolation and Culture of Embryonic Mouse Neural Stem Cells

Neural stem cells (NSCs) are multipotent and can give rise to the three major cell types of the central nervous system (CNS). In vitro culture and expansion of NSCs provide a suitable source of cells for neuroscientists to study the function of neurons and glial cells along with their interactions. There are several reported techniques for the isolation of neural stem cells from adult or embryo mammalian brains. During the microsurgical operation to isolate NSCs from different regions of the embryonic CNS, it is very important to reduce the damage to the brain cells to obtain the highest ratio of live and expandable stem cells. A possible technique for stress reduction during isolation of these cells from the mouse embryo brain is the reduction of surgical time. Here, we demonstrate a developed technique for rapid isolation of these cells from the E13 mouse embryo ganglionic eminence. Surgical procedures include harvesting E13 mouse embryos from the uterus, cutting the frontal fontanelle of the embryo with a bent needle tip, extracting the brain from the skull, microdissection of the isolated brain to harvest the ganglionic eminence, dissociation of the harvested tissue in NSC medium to gain a single cell suspension, and finally plating cells in suspension culture to generate neurospheres.

Here, we introduce a novel microsurgical technique for the isolation of neural stem cells from the E13 mouse embryo ganglionic eminence.

Neural stem cells (NSCs) are multipotent and can give rise to the three major cell types of the central nervous system (CNS). In vitro culture and ...

Transplantation of Chemogenetically Engineered Cortical Interneuron Progenitors into Early Postnatal Mouse Brains

Neuronal development is regulated by a complex combination of environmental and genetic factors. Assessing the relative contribution of each component is a complicated task, which is particularly difficult in regards to the development of &#947;-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic cortical interneurons (CIs). CIs are the main inhibitory neurons in the cerebral cortex, and they play key roles in neuronal networks, by regulating both the activity of individual pyramidal neurons, as well as the oscillatory behavior of neuronal ensembles. They are generated in transient embryonic structures (medial and caudal ganglionic eminences -&#160;MGE and CGE) that are very difficult to efficiently target using in utero electroporation approaches. Interneuron progenitors migrate long distances during normal embryonic development, before they integrate in the cortical circuit. This remarkable ability to disperse and integrate into a developing network can be hijacked by transplanting embryonic interneuron precursors into early post-natal host cortices. Here, we present a protocol that allows genetic modification of embryonic interneuron progenitors using focal ex vivo electroporation. These engineered interneuron precursors are then transplanted into early post-natal host cortices, where they will mature into easily identifiable CIs. This protocol allows the use of multiple genetically encoded tools, or the ability to regulate the expression of specific genes in interneuron progenitors, in order to investigate the impact of either genetic or environmental variables on the maturation and integration of CIs.

Here we present a protocol, designed to use chemogenetic tools to manipulate the activity of cortical interneuron progenitors transplanted into the cortex of early postnatal mice.

Neuronal development is regulated by a complex combination of environmental and genetic factors. Assessing the relative contribution of each component is ...

Primary Culture of Neurons Isolated from Embryonic Mouse Cerebellum

The use of primary cell cultures has become one of the major tools to study the nervous system in vitro. The ultimate goal of using this simplified model system is to provide a controlled microenvironment and maintain the high survival rate and the natural features of dissociated neuronal and nonneuronal cells as much as possible under in vitro conditions. In this article, we demonstrate a method of isolating primary neurons from the developing mouse cerebellum, placing them in an in vitro environment, establishing their growth, and monitoring their viability and differentiation for several weeks. This method is applicable to embryonic neurons dissociated from cerebellum between embryonic days 12&ndash;18.

Conducting in vitro experiments to reflect in vivo conditions as adequately as possible is not an easy task. The use of primary cell cultures is an important step toward understanding cell biology in a whole organism. The provided protocol outlines how to successfully grow and culture embryonic mouse cerebellar neurons.

The use of primary cell cultures has become one of the major tools to study the nervous system in vitro. The ultimate goal of using this simplified model ...

Isolation and Expansion of Neurospheres from Postnatal (P1&#8722;3) Mouse Neurogenic Niches

The neurosphere assay is an extremely useful in vitro technique for studying the inherent properties of neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs) including proliferation, self-renewal and multipotency. In the postnatal and adult brain, NSPCs are mainly present in two neurogenic niches: the subventricular zone (SVZ) lining the lateral ventricles and the subgranular zone of the hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG). The isolation of the neurogenic niches from postnatal brain allows obtaining a higher amount of NSPCs in culture with a consequent advantage of higher yields. The close contact between cells within each neurosphere creates a microenvironment that may resemble neurogenic niches. Here, we describe, in detail, how to generate SVZ- and DG-derived neurosphere cultures from 1&#8722;3-day-old (P1&#8722;3) mice, as well as passaging, for neurosphere expansion. This is an advantageous approach since the neurosphere assay allows a fast generation of NSPC clones (6&#8722;12 days) and contributes to a significant reduction in the number of animal usage. By plating neurospheres in differentiative conditions, we can obtain a pseudomonolayer of cells composed of NSPCs and differentiated cells of different neural lineages (neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes) allowing the study of the actions of intrinsic or extrinsic factors on NSPC proliferation, differentiation, cell survival and neuritogenesis.

In this article, we describe, in detail, a protocol for the generation of neurosphere cultures from postnatal mouse neural stem cells derived from the main mouse neurogenic niches. Neurospheres are used to identify neural stem cells from brain tissue allowing the estimation of precursor cell numbers. Moreover, these 3D structures can be plated in differentiative conditions, giving rise to neurons, oligodendrocytes and astrocytes, allowing the study of cell fate.

The neurosphere assay is an extremely useful in vitro technique for studying the inherent properties of neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs) including ...