Three Growth Factors Induce Proliferation and Differentiation of Neural Precursor Cells In Vitro and Support Cell-Transplantation after Spinal Cord Injury In Vivo

Figure 1

Generation, cultivation, characterization and proliferation of NPCs in vitro. (a) Embryo of a GFP-expressing Wistar rat before schematic dissection of the cortical hemispheres [56]. (b) Phase contrast microscopy of a 2-day old NPC monolayer culture. (c-f) Colocalization of GFP⁺ NPCs (green) with markers for intact nuclei (DAPI, blue) and stem cells (Nestin, red). (g) Phase contrast microscopy of an NPC monolayer culture after 7 days of cultivation. (h) GFP⁺ NPCs quantified after 7 days of incubation with the different growth factor concentrations/combinations in groups 1-4.