Neural differentiation in the OTT-6050 mouse teratoma. Production of a tumor fraction restricted to stem cells and neural cells after centrifugal elutriation.

Dissociation and centrifugal elutriation procedures were applied to subcutaneous transplants of the OTT-6050 mouse teratoma line in order to enrich the neuroepithelial cells. One of the resultant cell fractions, designated IB-21, was then implanted beneath the renal capsule of syngeneic mice and rebanked every 3 to 6 weeks for a total of 58 passages over 5 years. Sequential passages resulted in a tumor restricted to stem cells and neural cells (neuroblasts and glial cells). The primitive neural cells lost the ability to form rosettes after the early transplants. Subcutaneous or intracerebral transplantation of these tumors evinced their capacity for further neuroepithelial differentiation, with the demonstration of astrocytes and occasional mature synapse-forming neurons. Conversion of the tumor to the ascitic form resulted in unorganized clusters of neoplastic cells in contrast to the highly structured embryoid bodies that are characteristic of the parent Ott-6050 line. The absence of non-neural cells in the IB-21 tumor fraction and its ability to demonstrate divergent neural differentiation suggest that a transplantable neural-determined cell population exists in the OTT-6050 mouse teratoma.