STUDIES OF CULTURED HUMAN AND SIMIAN FETAL BRAIN CELLS

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Abstract
Explant cultures of the cerebral subventricular zone and cerebellar external germinal layer were established from fetal human, rhesus and cynomolgus monkey brains. Using comparable gestational ages, the morphogenesis of the cultures from these 3 sources was almost indistinguishable. Cell types (4) were distinguished by EM. Germinal cells or neuroblasts were confined largely to the primary explant and extended into a transitional outgrowth region. Astrocytes, which stained for glial fibrillary acidic protein, grew out of the explants and these could be distinguished from the large, mesenchymal epithelioid cells. A 4th cell type, not identified in previous studies, had the ultrastructural characteristics of an oligodendrocyte but did not produce myelin in these culture conditions.