Neuroepithelial progenitor cells explanted from human fetal brain proliferate and differentiate in vitro.

Putative neuroepithelial cells were explanted from several germinative zones of the brain of 5-to-12 week old human fetuses, obtained from legal abortions. In each case, an homogeneous population of neuroepithelial-like cells expressing nestin and vimentin was obtained. Cells proliferated in vitro in response to bFGF which favoured a neuroblastic differentiation with expression of MAP-5 and beta3-tubulin. Cells could be maintained and propagated as neuroblasts in serum-free medium. The multipotentiality of the cells was revealed by growing them in serum-containing medium, where a mixed population of cells of the neuronal lineage and of glial cells including putative radial glia, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, progressively differentiated. These human progenitor cells proliferating in vitro have many potential applications in gene therapy of neurodegenerative diseases.