Generating a Primary Culture of Astrocytes from a Rat Pup Brain

Source: Milićević, K., et al., Primary Cultures of Rat Astrocytes and Microglia and Their Use in the Study of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. J. Vis. Exp. (2022) The video demonstrates a technique for culturing primary astrocytes from the rat cortex. The cortex is mechanically dissociated to obtain a homogeneous glial cell suspension, which is then plated on polypeptide-coated plates to promote selective proliferation of astrocytes. Subsequently, the astrocytes are enzymatically dissociated from the plates and transferred to fresh media, allowing the culture of pure astrocytes.