Isolation of Neural Stem Cells from the Embryonic Mouse Hippocampus for in vitro Growth or Engraftment into a Host Tissue

For both stem cell research and treatment of the central nervous system disorders, neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs) represent an important breakthrough tool. In the expanded stem cell-based therapy use, NSPCs not only provide a powerful cell source for neural cell replacement but a useful model for developmental biology research. Despite numerous approaches were described for isolation of NSPCs from either fetal or adult brain, the main issue remains in extending cell survival following isolation. Here we provide a simple and affordable protocol for making viable NSPCs from the fetal mouse hippocampi, which are capable of maintaining the high viability in a 2D monolayer cell culture or generating 3D neuro-spheroids of cell aggregates. Further, we describe the detailed method for engraftment of embryonic NSPCs onto a host hippocampal tissue for promoting multilinear cell differentiation and maturation within endogenous environment. Our experimental data demonstrate that embryonic NSPCs isolated using this approach show the high viability (above 88%). Within a host tissue, these cells were capable of differentiating to the main neural subpopulations (principal neurons, oligodendrocytes, astroglia). Finally, NSPC-derived neurons demonstrated matured functional properties (electrophysiological activity), becoming functionally integrated into the host hippocampal circuits within a couple of weeks after engraftment.