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Facts about neural stem cells, neurospheres and the NeuroCult® NCFC Assay
1. What are neural stem and progenitor cells?
Neural stem cells are unique cells found in the brain and spinal cord (the central nervous system or CNS) that have the ability to:
- Divide to create other neural stem cells (a characteristic know as self-renewal)
- Develop into the specialized cells of the CNS, including neurons, astrocytes, oligodendrocytes (the ability to develop into multiple cell types demonstrates that stem cell's possess a characteristic known as multipotency)
- Retain their ability to be multipotent over long periods of time
Cells that satisfy all of these criteria are defined as stem cells: cells that satisfy some, but not all of the functional criteria are defined as progenitor cells.
2. Why are neural stem and progenitor cells important?
Neural stem and progenitor cells are important because studying them helps scientists better understand how the cells within the brain and spinal cord work. Understanding how these cells work, will allow researchers to understand the potential of neural stem and progenitor cells to be used as therapies to treat diseases and injuries to the brain and spinal cord.
3. What are neurospheres? “Neurosphere” is a term used to describe a sphere-shaped cluster of cells that is created when neural stem and progenitor cells taken from the CNS of a mammal are grown in a culture dish with a special liquid (cell culture medium) that specifically promotes their growth. Neurospheres are made up of a mixed population of neural stem, progenitor and mature cells. Scientists are able to disaggregate these clusters into single cell populations. If these isolated cells are placed into a new culture dish with fresh cell culture medium, they can form more neurospheres. Alternatively, these cells can be placed in cell culture medium that contains serum, and the cells will develop into the three main cells of the brain - neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocyes. This procedure forms the basis of the neurosphere culture system.
4. Why are neural stem cells and neurospheres important in stem cell research? For the first time in the early 1990’s, scientists were able to prove that there were cells which existed in the adult mammalian brain that could proliferate in a tissue culture system (the neurosphere culture system), which showed the key features of a stem cell. The identification of the existence of neural stem cells is important because up until that point, it was believed the adult brain did not have the capacity to generate new cells. Since the development of the neurosphere culture system, neurosphere formation and the neurosphere culture system have been widely used as a method to isolate, identify and grow neural stem cells from different areas of the mammalian CNS.
5. How will the NeuroCult® Neural Colony-Forming Cell Assay impact development of stem cell therapies using neural stem and progenitor cells? The NeuroCult® Neural Colony-Forming Cell Assay is a biological test that discriminates between neural stem cells and neural progenitor cells which allows scientists to accurately calculate the number of neural stem and progenitor cells in vitro. Ultimately, the understanding of the biology of neural stem cells and their potential use for curing diseases and brain injuries relies heavily on the ability to identify and measure stem cell activity in vitro. The NeuroCult® Neural Colony-Forming Cell Assay accurately quantifies neural stem and progenitor cell activity. The use of accurate quantification in basic neural stem cell biology and in animal research studies that investigate neural stem cell activity in neurodegenerative diseases and injury may lead to the discovery of drugs and other molecules to treat these diseases.
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