Neurosphere culture enables the selective expansion of NSCs in floating culture within a serum-defined medium containing growth factors, such as EGF and/ or FGF2. A neurosphere derived from a single cell has been shown by the differentiation assay to be capable of generating all the major three cell lineages of the CNS, i.e., neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, indicating the multi-potency of the neurosphere-initiating cell.
When a neurosphere is dissociated into single cells, each cell starts to form secondary neurospheres at a high frequency. For human NSCs, however, some different protocols are being used.
Transplantation of Neural Stem Cells for Spinal Cord
Regeneration