METHOD FOR CULTURING NEURAL CREST STEM CELLS, AND USE THEREOF

摘要

The present invention relates to a method for culturing neural crest stem cells derived from peripheral nerves, to a neural crest stem cell culture cultured by the method, to a method for differentiating the neural crest stem cells, and to a cell therapeutic agent and treatment agent for diseases of the nervous system which involve the neural crest stem cells, wherein the method for culturing neural crest stem cells comprises the steps of: culturing a fragment of a peripheral nerve after inserting the latter into a hydrogel; and collecting neural crest stem cells, which have migrated into the hydrogel and proliferated, from the fragment of the peripheral nerve by breaking down only the hydrogel. The neural crest stem cells cultured by the culturing method have excellent proliferation capacity in vitro and exhibit multipotency so as to be capable of being differentiated into various kinds of cells composing the peripheral nervous system and the central nervous system such that the present invention can be used in the production of novel biopharmaceuticals, such as cell therapeutic agents and tissue-engineering agents, as well as in the fundamental study of cell biology and molecular biology, and in the study of novel drug development.