AUTHOR=Galuta Ahmad , Sandarage Ryan , Ghinda Diana , Auriat Angela M. , Chen Suzan , Kwan Jason C. S. , Tsai Eve C. 

TITLE=A Guide to Extract Spinal Cord for Translational Stem Cell Biology Research: Comparative Analysis of Adult Human, Porcine, and Rodent Spinal Cord Stem Cells

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neuroscience

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2020.00607

DOI=10.3389/fnins.2020.00607

ISSN=1662-453X

ABSTRACT=<p>Improving the clinical translation of animal-based neural stem/progenitor cell (NSPC) therapies to humans requires an understanding of intrinsic human and animal cell characteristics. We report a novel <italic>in vitro</italic> method to assess spinal cord NSPCs from a small (rodent) and large (porcine) animal model in comparison to human NSPCs. To extract live adult human, porcine, and rodent spinal cord tissue, we illustrate a strategy using an anterior or posterior approach that was simulated in a porcine model. The initial expansion of primary NSPCs is carried out using the neurosphere assay followed by a pharmacological treatment phase during which NSPCs derived from humans, porcines, and rodents are assessed in parallel using the same defined parameters. Using this model, NSPCs from all species demonstrated multi-lineage differentiation and self-renewal. Importantly, these methods provide conditions to enable the direct comparison of species-dependent cell behavior in response to specific exogenous signals.</p>