Mammalian multipotent neural stem cells

摘要

The invention includes mammalian multipotent neural stem cells and their progeny and methods for the isolation and clonal propagation of such cells. At the clonal level the stem cells are capable of self regeneration and asymmetrical division. Lineage restriction is demonstrated within developing clones which are sensitive to the local environment. The invention also includes such cells which are transfected with foreign nucleic acid, e.g., to produce an immortalized neural stem cell, and immortalized cell lines which are capable of subsequent disimmortalization. The invention further includes transplantation assays which allow for the identification of mammalian multipotent neural stem cells from various tissues and methods for transplanting mammalian neural stem cells and/or neural or glial progenitors into mammals. A novel method for detecting antibodies to neural cell surface markers is disclosed as well as a monoclonal antibody to mouse LNGFR.