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Prospective identification and culture of rat enteric neural stem cells (ENSCs)

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Abstract

Hirschprung’s disease (HD), a very common congenital abnormality in children, occurs mainly due to the congenital developmental defect of the enteric nervous system. The absence of enteric ganglia from the distal gut due to deletion in gut colonization by neural crest progenitor cells may lead to HD. The capacity to identify and isolate the enteric neuronal precursor cells from developing and mature tissues would enable the development of cell replacement therapies for HD. However, a mature method to culture these cells is a challenge. The present study aimed to propose a method to culture enteric neural stem cells (ENSCs) from the DsRed transgenic fetal rat gut. The culture medium used contained 15 % chicken embryo extract, basic fibroblast growth factor, and epidermal growth factor. ENSCs were cultured from embryonic day 18 in DsRed transgenic rat. Under inverted microscope and fluorescence staining, ENSCs proliferated to form small cell clusters on the second day of culture. The neurospheres-like structure were suspended in the medium, and there were some filaments between the adherent cells from day 3 to day 6 of the culture. The neurospheres were formed by ENSCs on day 8 of the culture. Network-like connections were formed between the adherent cells and differentiated cells after adding 10 % FBS. The differentiated cells were positive for neurofilament and glial fibrillary acidic protein antibodies. The present study established a method to isolate and culture ENSCs from E18 DsRed transgenic rats in the terminal stage of embryonic development. This study would offer a way to obtain plenty of cells for the future research on the transplantation of HD.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grants from the social undertakings technological innovation and demonstration project foundation of Nantong City (No. HS2012026) and the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatric Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, Nantong, 226001, Jiangsu, China

    Tingting Gao, Wenliang Ge & Qiyou Yin

  2. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Neuroregeneration, Nantong University, Nantong, China

    Haijiao Chen & Mei Liu

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  1. Tingting Gao
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  2. Haijiao Chen
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  3. Mei Liu
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  4. Wenliang Ge
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  5. Qiyou Yin
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Correspondence to Wenliang Ge or Qiyou Yin.

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Gao, T., Chen, H., Liu, M. et al. Prospective identification and culture of rat enteric neural stem cells (ENSCs). Cytotechnology 68, 509–514 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10616-014-9803-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10616-014-9803-3

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