Establishment of 'normal' nervous cell lines after transfer of polyoma virus and adenovirus early genes into murine brain cells.

Brain cells from murine embryos were transfected with the polyoma virus large T or the adenovirus 5 EIA gene and, simultaneously, with the phosphotransferase coding NeoR gene. The efficiently transfected cells were selected for their resistance to Geneticin (G418) and their ability to clone at low cell density. Subsequently, most of the selected cells could be sub-cloned and continuously grown for 6-18 months so far. Their doubling time varied between 18 and 72 h. From independent transfections, more than one hundred cell lines were established. They did not exhibit a transformed phenotype, but subsequent transfection with the polyoma middle T gene induced their oncogenic transformation. The maintenance and expression of the transferred genes were verified. Most of the analyzed cell lines retained glial properties. These results suggest that the lines obtained as well as a further extension of this in vitro system should be of interest for the study of nervous cell interactions, differentiation and functions.