Human central nervous system tissue culture: a historical review and examination of recent advances

Abstract

Tissue culture has been and continues to be widely used in medical research. Since the beginning of central nervous system (CNS) tissue culture nearly 100 years ago, the scientific community has contributed innumerable protocols and materials leading to the current wide variety of culture systems. While nonhuman cultures have traditionally been more widely used, interest in human CNS tissue culture techniques has accelerated since the middle of the last century. This has been fueled largely by the desire to model human physiology and disease in vitro with human cells. We review the history of human CNS tissue culture summarizing advances that have led to the current breadth of options available. The review addresses tissue sources, culture initiation, formats, culture ware, media, supplements and substrates, and maintenance. All of these variables have been influential in the development of culturing options and the optimization of culture survival and propagation.