Summary of Commonly Used Neuronal Cell Lines

As the most basic structural and functional units of the nervous system, neurons are essential for the production of normal sensations and the execution of movement. Neurons are terminally differentiated cells that are not regenerated after injury, and protecting neurons and minimizing their damage has become a common repair strategy for treating neuroinvasive diseases.

Neuronal cells commonly used in our experiments mainly include primary neuronal cells and neuronal cell lines. Primary neuronal cells are more widely used than cortical neuronal cells, but primary neuronal cells are more cumbersome to extract and the cells cannot be copied. Choosing the right neuronal cell line in the study of neurological diseases can achieve twice the results with half the effort.

Creative Biolabs provides neuronal cell line-related services, including modeling, assays, research tools, etc.

Commonly Used Neuronal Cell Lines - HT22 Cells

HT22 cells, i.e., mouse hippocampal neuronal cell line, cell culture was performed using high sugar DMEM + 10% FBS + 1% double antibody, and the cells were grown adherently to the wall. HT22 cells are commonly used to construct in vitro neuronal injury models, and the common injury models are:

• Glutamate induction model - HT22 cells are highly sensitive to glutamate and glutamate is commonly used to induce HT22 cell damage. After being induced by glutamate, intracellular ROS levels increase, and excessive ROS damage DNA and organelles, affecting the normal function of the cell and thus triggering cell death.
• Oxygen glucose deprivation/reoxygenation (OGD/R) model - This model mainly simulates neuronal damage in the CNS during ischemia/reperfusion pathology, which is essentially a structural and functional disorder of cells under the effect of oxidative stress.
• Hydrogen peroxide induction model - Hydrogen peroxide-induced cellular injury. After induction, the cells become crumpled and lose their normal cellular morphology. The essence of this model is also cell death due to oxidative stress.

Commonly Used Neuronal Cell Lines - SH-SY5Y Cells

H-SY5Y cells i.e. human neuroblastoma cell line was established from a bone marrow biopsy of a metastatic neuroblastoma in a 4 year old girl in 1970, which was a subline of the SK-N-SH cell line obtained after 3 clones (SK-N-SH → SH-SY → SH-SY5 → SH-SY5Y). It was cultured using MEM/F12 medium + 10 % FBS + 1 % double antibody.

It can be used for research in a number of areas as follows.

Commonly Used Neuronal Cell Lines - NSC-34 Cells

NSC-34 is a hybrid cell line generated by fusion of motor neuron-rich embryonic mouse spinal cord cells with mouse neuroblastoma. It contains two cell populations: small undifferentiated cells capable of cytokinesis and larger multinucleated cells. These cells express many of the properties of motor neurons, including choline acetyltransferase, acetylcholine synthesis, storage, and release, and neurofilament triad proteins. Cell culture was performed using high sugar DMEM+10% FBS+1% dual antibody, and adherent cells were present along with suspension cells.

Its main applications are as follows:

• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in vitro model - An in vitro research model of ALS can be constructed by transfecting DNA sequences of human SOD1 G93A mutant, TDP-43 mutant (e.g. A315T, M337V, etc.).
• Cytotoxicity testing - Different susceptibility to neurotoxins has been reported for NSC-34 cells in differentiated and undifferentiated states.
• The response of microglia is influenced by the microenvironment within the local neural circuit.
• Microglia interact with different types of neurons whose axon terminals exhibit spatial differences.

Commonly Used Neuronal Cell Lines - MN9D Cells

MN9D cell, the mouse midbrain dopaminergic neuron cell line, is an immortalized dopaminergic neuron cell line generated from the mouth side midbrain neurons of 14-day-old C57BL/6J mouse embryos and N18TG2 neuroblastoma cells, a sympathetic nervous system cancer in the A/Jax background. MN9D cells produce dopamine (DA) and express tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and aromatic amino acid decarboxylase (AADC). MN9D cells are adherent, epithelioid-like cells with round or elongated cytosol, with 2-4 thin and elongated cellular protrusions, which can form intercellular junctions. Cell culture was performed using RPMI 1640+10% FBS.

The MN9D cell line is widely used as a model of DA neurons and can also be used to test the mechanisms and potential treatments associated with DA neuron deficiency in Parkinson's disease. The MN9D cell line is often induced with 1-methyl-4-phenyl-pyridinium ion (MPP+) to establish an in vitro model of PD.

Commonly Used Neuronal Cell Lines - CATH.a Cells

The CATH.a cell line was established from catecholaminergic neurons surrounding the blueprint region of the mouse brain. When this cell line was cultured in serum-containing medium, the cells were undifferentiated and actively proliferating. After serum withdrawal, the cells stopped proliferating and differentiated into neuron-like cells. Differentiated CATH.a cells exhibited a catecholaminergic phenotype and showed morphology similar to that of primary CNS neurons and expressed several markers of catecholaminergic neurons.

This cell is often used as an in vitro model to study catecholaminergic neurons.

Commonly Used Neuronal Cell Lines - VSC4.1 Cells

VSC4.1 cells, i.e., rat spinal cord anterior horn motor metaplasia cell line, were cultured using DMEM+10% FBS+1% dual antibody. It is commonly used to construct models of neurodegenerative diseases (e.g. PD and ALS) and neurotoxicity assays in vitro.

For Research Use Only. Not For Clinical Use.