Figure 3. Enrichment of immature neuronal-restricted progenitors using PSA-NCAM mediated magnetic cell separation.

Cells from the original, the negative and the positive fraction were cultured on laminin (50.000 cells/cm²). After 3 h in vitro, the expression of (a) polysialilated-neural cell adhesion molecules (PSA-NCAM), (b) neurofilaments (NF), (c) glial fibrillary acid proteins (GFAP) and (d) A2B5 was analysed immunocytochemically in each cell fraction. Nuclei were stained with DAPI (blue). Scale bar, 25 μm. (e) The positive fraction showed a significantly higher content of PSA-NCAM- and NF-positive cells (n = 5, mean ± SD, P < 0.001). GFAP was detected in glial cells in all fractions (n = 5, mean ± SD, P = 0.41). A2B5 on the surface of glial-restricted progenitors (GRPs) is only detected in the positive fraction (n = 5, mean ± SD, P = 0.001).