Transcriptomic Profiling of Mice Primary Cortical Neurons in Response to Medium Change

Abstract

The first in vitro system for the culture of primary neurons was developed in 1977. Since then, the culture systems for hippocampal and cortical neurons, as well as neuron cell lines, have improved dramatically. Primary neuronal cultures provide a defined environment where neurons can be studied in isolation from other cell types and are a powerful tool for studying cellular and molecular mechanisms of neuronal development, aging, and death. However, the changes that occur in neurons during culture in relation to cell differentiation and medium composition have not been thoroughly characterized. To study the effect of medium change in primary neurons in culture, we performed a transcriptomic analysis using whole mouse genome microarrays, for neurons between 7 and 10 days in vitro after medium change. We show that even though neurons in culture present an expression profile pointing to differentiation with time in culture, medium change induces a transient and partial de-differentiation.