Analysis of differentiation of stem/progenitor cells in tissue culture of neocortical primordium of mouse brain.

Differentiation of neural stem/progenitor cells from neocortical primordium of the brain from 14-day mouse embryos was studied by immunohistochemical methods during their culturing. Non-differentiated cells expressing nestin and vimentin persisted in freely floating neurospheres throughout the experiment. Glioblasts, neuroblasts, and differentiated neurons were found in neurospheres cultured in differentiating medium. However, neurons disappeared with increasing the number of passages, the formation of neuroblasts was terminated, and only astrocytes and nestin-positive cells were seen in the culture. It was found that cells of mouse embryonic neocortex lose the capacity for spontaneous multipotent differentiation during culturing.