Neuronal Research

Primary neuronal culture experiments are a critical part of understanding the cellular basis of neurological disease. To obtain a healthy culture with good morphology and cellular function, use of high-quality media and supplements is crucial. See More

"When an axon of cell A is near enough to excite cell B and repeatedly or persistently takes part in firing It, some growth process or metabolic change takes place in one or both cells such that A's efficiency, as one of the cells firing B, is increased." (Hebb, D.O. (1949). The Organization of Behavior. New York: Wiley & Sons.)

The above neurophysiological postulate later became commonly paraphrased as "Cells that Fire Together Wire Together", and is the foundation for many activity-dependent structural plasticity and learning theories. BrainPhys™ Neuronal Medium is a serum-free neuronal basal medium that supports neuronal activity. Based on the formulation published by Cedric Bardy and Fred H. Gage (C Bardy et al. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 2015), BrainPhys™ supports the long-term physiologically active culture of both primary-derived and hPSC-derived neurons. This is also convenient for culture in microelectrode array (MEA) systems and optical (calcium- or voltage-based) systems where neuronal activity is recorded over time.

In addition to a basal medium, neurons require serum-free supplements for extended culture. Lot-to-lot variability in commercial neural supplements can cause inconsistent results. At STEMCELL Technologies, we rigorously pre-screen the components of all media and supplements and subject the finished products to rigorous cell-based assays to ensure the highest quality final product.

NeuroCult™ SM1 Neuronal supplements are based on Brewer’s B27 supplement (Brewer et al. 1993), but optimized to more consistently support the long-term growth of mature, functional neurons. Neurons cultured using NeuroCult™ SM1 Neuronal Supplement show increased cell survival, neurite outgrowth and neurite branching. NeuroCult™ SM1 is also available without Vitamin A, without Antioxidants or without Insulin, depending on your experimental requirements.

N2-Supplement A is based on Bottenstein's original formulation. Commonly called N2-A, it promotes neural fate and long-term survival in primary- and hPSC-derived neurons. Also available is N2-Supplement B (containing iron-poor apo-transferrin) which can be used for a number of neural progenitor and neural differentiation protocols.