Culture and regeneration of human neurons after brain surgery

Cortical human brain tissue was obtained from 11 craniotomies for intractab le epilepsy or tumor resection. Neuregen transport medium preserved viabili ty at 4 degreesC during transfer to the culture laboratory. Cells were isol ated and cultured by methods previously developed for adult rat neurons (Br ewer GJ. Isolation and culture of adult rat hippocampal neurons. J. Neurosc i. Meth. 1997:71:143-55). In about 40% of the cases, cultures regenerated w ith a majority of neuron-like cells that stained for neurofilament and not GFAP. After 3 weeks of culture From a 70 year old meningioma case, synapse- like structures were revealed by electron microscopy. Trophic support from basic human recombinant fibroblast growth factor was synergistically improv ed with the steroid hormone dehydroepiandrosterone 3-sulfate. Another 40%;, of the cases resulted in cultures that were predominantly GFAP positive as troglia. The remaining 20% of the cases did not regenerate cells with neuro n-like or glial processes. Three postmortem cases did not regenerate neurit es. These methods may aid development of human culture models of epilepsy a s well as human pharmacology, toxicology and development of improved method s for brain grafts. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.