Abstract
We describe a method to isolate and co-culture dissociated hippocampal neurons and cortical astrocytes from young mice (E17 and newborn, respectively). This protocol is useful to investigate the effects of astrocytes on the developmental biology of neurons. By independently isolating the astrocytes and neurons (with different genetic backgrounds) from different mice, an in vitro environment can be created where one cell type is deficient in a gene or protein of interest. For example, this method is well suited to examine the effect of a genetic mutation in astrocytes on the development of neuronal processes and synapses.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Stephanie Kaech-Petrie for her tireless advice that was instrumental in the development of this protocol.This research is supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Fragile X Research Foundation of Canada.
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© 2009 Humana Press, a part of Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
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Jacobs, S., Doering, L.C. (2009). Primary Dissociated Astrocyte and Neuron Co-culture. In: Doering, L. (eds) Protocols for Neural Cell Culture. Springer Protocols Handbooks. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-292-6_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-60761-292-6_16
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Publisher Name: Humana Press
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Online ISBN: 978-1-60761-292-6
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