Observation of neural precursor cells in rat dorsal root ganglia

    SONG Wei, ZENG Shuiª²Lin, ZHU Jianª²Bao ,WANG Lei, LI Sheng, YAN Rong£¬LI Fengª²Fei

    Institute of Neurobiology, Southeast University, Nanjing 210009, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To investigate neural precursor cells in rat dorsal root ganglia (DRG). METHODS: DRG from embryonic and adult rats were frozen and sliced for Brdu, Nestin, P75 immunofluorescence histochemical test.Additionally, the cells of ganglia were respectively cultured and observed in their proliferation and differentiation. The cells were identified by Brdu, Nestin, P75, NF and GFAP immunofluorescence histochemical test. RESULTS: In the frozen DRG sections from adult and embryonic rats, Brdu/Nestin and Nestin/P75 positive cells were found. The cultured cells could divide and proliferate and showed Nestin, Brdu, P75 positive. The thirdª²passage cells could differentiate in the presence of fetal bovine serum. The differentiating cells showed NF and GFAP positive. CONCLUSION: There are neural precursor cells that can divide and proliferate in rat DRG. They can differentiate into neuron and glial cells. ......