Abstract
Studies performed over the past 20years on neural stem cells and progenitors have opened up new possibilities for treating neurological diseases and for regenerating the central nervous system (CNS) after injury. But our understanding of the types of stem cells and progenitors that produce the CNS and then persist into adulthood has lagged behind studies on other organs, in part due to the complexity of the neural precursor (NP) pool, but also due to the lack of widely accepted methods to isolate and analyze NPs. Until recently, there have not been cell surface markers known to reside on specific types of neural precursors that could be used for flow cytometric or fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS) studies. Indeed, there is still no unique surface epitope identified to be exclusively expressed by neural stem cells (NSCs). Therefore, investigators have used cell surface markers in combination to begin to establish the variety of neural precursors that reside in the brain's germinal zones and to understand how they produce new neurons and glia. In this chapter, we will review progress made in discerning the different types of precursors that reside within the brain as assessed by flow cytometry and FACS. Based upon our trials and errors in establishing a multimarker flow cytometry panel, we will discuss the technical considerations that complicate the application of flow cytometry and FACS to studies of the developing and adult nervous tissues. We predict that, with additional refinements to the current methods being used, neuroscientists will make great strides in understanding the complexities of the brain’s germinal matrices and their precursors.
Published Version
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