Figure 1.
Characterization of rat cortical neural precursor cell (NPC) cultures established at 3% versus 20% oxygen. (A): Primary rat neonatal cortical neurospheres were established after 7 days in culture at either 20% or 3% O2. (B, E): Following dissociation of these passage 0 primary neurospheres to single cells, the majority of NPCs labeled with nestin and olig2, with no significant difference between the two culture conditions (n = 4–5 per group). (C, D, F): After 5 days of differentiation at either 20% or 3% O2, all three neural lineages were generated, with a significant increase in O4-positive oligodendrocytes (p = .001) at 3% compared with 20% O2, along with a concomitant decrease in gfap-positive astrocytes (p = .048). Scale bars = 50 μm. Pictures shown are from NPCs derived from green fluorescence protein (GFP)-negative littermates for ease of representation (no significant differences were observed between GFP+ and GFP− NPC cultures). Abbreviations: Gfap, glial fibrillary acidic protein; P, passage.