Isolation and Culture of Primary Human CNS Neural Cells

We present our current methods for isolating and culturing cells from the adult and fetal human CNS. The cell isolation procedures used are also well suited to obtain samples for immediate RNA- and protein-based analyses, particularly as techniques to minimize the amount of material needed become increasingly available. Further tissue culture techniques commonly used for rodent material can be adapted to human adult and fetal tissues such as the hippocampal slice culture and the neurosphere assay (Dorr et al. J Neuroimmunol 167:204–209, 2005; Chojnacki et al. Ann Neurol 64:127–142, 2008).