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Neural Cell Lines

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Book cover Protocols for Neural Cell Culture

Part of the book series: Springer Protocols Handbooks ((SPH))

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Abstract

The availability, in the past three decades, of well-characterized and immortalized neural cell lines has led to a rapid expansion of knowledge in many aspects of neurobiology. The major advantages of cell lines are that they are capable of long-term or indefinite growth, and generally represent a single cell type, providing a degree of reproducibility and simplicity in an otherwise complicated biological field. With these advantages come disadvantages as well, but careful experimental design, and an appreciation of the limits of the approach, allows the investigator using neural cell lines a powerful tool in answering precise questions with a minimum of interpretational complications. Furthermore, the use of cell lines eliminates the considerable cost and other concerns associated with animals as a source of experimental material. This chapter addresses the usefulness, limitations, and availability of neural cell lines. Because methodology of routine cell culture is covered in other chapters of this volume, general technical aspects of laboratory manipulations of the lines are not covered here.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Cell, Developmental, and Molecular Biology, American Type Culture Collection, Manassas, VA

    Kaoru Murayama, Natalia N. Singh, Angela Helmrich & David W. Barnes

Authors
  1. Kaoru Murayama
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  2. Natalia N. Singh
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  3. Angela Helmrich
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  4. David W. Barnes
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, School of Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

    Sergey Fedoroff  & Arleen Richardson  & 

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© 2001 Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ

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Murayama, K., Singh, N.N., Helmrich, A., Barnes, D.W. (2001). Neural Cell Lines. In: Fedoroff, S., Richardson, A. (eds) Protocols for Neural Cell Culture. Springer Protocols Handbooks. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-207-4:219

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1385/1-59259-207-4:219

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-89603-902-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-59259-207-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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