Long-term culture of dissociated sympathetic neurons

This chapter discusses long-term primary culture of dissociated neurons, a technique that proved to be a valuable tool in studies of neuronal development and function. Such cultures offer the potential for systematic manipulation of the fluid medium surrounding the cells. These neuron-alone cultures are particularly well suited to biochemical analysis as the properties of any function under study are directly attributable to the neurons being cultured, without complicating contamination from other cell types. In dissociated cell culture under appropriate conditions, sympathetic neurons exhibit a normal developmental differentiation and maturation into adrenergic neurons. Medium conditioned by incubation on cultures of appropriate non-neuronal cells, when added to neuron-alone cultures produces an increase in neuronal cholinergic characteristics with a concomitant decrease in adrenergic characteristics. The extracellular environment is critically important in determining the differentiated fate of sympathetically derived neurons