Methods in Neurosciences Vol. 2

The ability to assess the response of neural cells is an important goal of research in the neurosciences. The means to measure responses in a chemically defined medium is a positive feature of the use of cell culture and is the major reason its use is so important in this discipline. Techniques for the purification of cells for culture, for large-scale isolation, for assessing differentiated function, and for tracing lineage are included. Many of the methods can easily be adapted to...
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The ability to assess the response of neural cells is an important goal of research in the neurosciences. The means to measure responses in a chemically defined medium is a positive feature of the use of cell culture and is the major reason its use is so important in this discipline. Techniques for the purification of cells for culture, for large-scale isolation, for assessing differentiated function, and for tracing lineage are included. Many of the methods can easily be adapted to other systems. Key Features * Convenient benchtop format * Methods presented for easy adaptation to new systems * Comprehensive protocols included for * Preparation and maintenance of primary and continuous cultures * Cell purification * Bulk isolation * Studying pulsatility, growth on immobile carriers, rotation-mediated aggregation, microcultures, Maximow assembly cultures * Assessment of differentiated and functional aspects: endocrine modulation, morphological variants, receptors, intracellular trafficking * Clonal analysis and lineage analysis