Gibco® Rat Fetal Neural Stem Cells

Ready-to-use neural stem cells, with superior proliferation and multipotent differentiation potential.  Each vial of cell contains 2 x 106 cells, isolated from the cortex of Sprague-Dawley E14 rats.

Components of the GIBCO® Rat Fetal NSC Kit

The kit contains:

  1. Rat fetal neural stem cells (2 x 106 cells)
  2. StemPro® NSC SFM Media (KnockOut™ DMEM/F-12, StemPro® NSC SFM supplement, basic FGF recombinant protein, and EGF recombinant protein)

Expansion in adherent or neurosphere suspension cell culture

StemPro® NSC SFM enables superior expansion of rat fetal NSCs in both adherent cell culture as well neurosphere suspension cell culture (Figure 1). 

GIBCO® offers detailed protocols for both conditions:

 Figure 1. (Left) Rat Fetal NSCs at passage 3 (P3) in adherent cell culture using StemPro® NSC SFM media.  (Right) Rat fetal NSCs at P3 in neurosphere suspension culture using StemPro® NSC SFM.

More than 75% of GIBCO® Rat Fetal NSCs retain undifferentiated phenotype

GIBCO® Rat Fetal Neural Stem Cells can be expanded in StemPro® NSC SFM media up to three passages without differentiation, with more than 75% of rat fetal NSCs retaining their undifferentiated phenotype. (Figure 2)


Figure 2.  Fluorescence images (20X) of rat fetal NSCs at P3 cultured in StemPro® NSC SFM for 10 days and then stained for the appropriate phenotypic marker.  Nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue) in all images.  While approximately (A) 90% of the cells stain positive for the undifferentiated NSC marker Nestin, less than 10% of the cells are positive for differentiated cell type markers (B) Dcx (<5%), (C) GalC (<5%), and (D) GFAP (<8%).

Differentiation potential of GIBCO® Rat Fetal NSCs

After proliferating the rat fetal NSCs, the cells were expanded from 2 x 106 cells to 300 x 106 cells and then differentiated into multipotent lineages.  Rat fetal NSCs spontaneously differentiate into neurons, oligodendrocytes, or astrocytes upon withdrawal of bFGF from culture media.  The images below show the differentiation potential of GIBCO® Rat Fetal NSCs cultured up to P3 in StemPro® NSC SFM (Figure 3).



Figure 3.  Fluorescence images (20X) of rat fetal NSCs cultured in StemPro® NSC SFM for up to P3 and then allowed to differentiate into into neurons, oligodendrocytes, or astrocytes.  Upon differentiation, (A) cells start to lose undifferentiated NSC marker Nestin, but stain positive for differentiated cell type markers (B) Dcx, (C) GalC, and (D) GFAP.  Nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue) in all images.