Neuroscience

Müller cells, the major glial cells of the retina, play vital roles in maintaining redox homeostasis and retinal metabolism. An immortalized human Müller cell line (MIO-M1) is widely used as an in vitro model to study Müller cells’ function, but they may not be exactly the same as primarily cultured human Müller cells. The use of human primary Müller cells (huPMCs) in culture has been limited by the requirement for complicated culture systems or particular age ranges of donors. We have successfully grown huPMCs using our established protocol. The cell type was pure, and cultured cells expressed Müller cell-specific markers strongly. The cultured huPMCs were used for morphologic, metabolic, transcriptomic, and functional studies.

Graphic abstract:

Timeline for human primary Müller cell (huPMC) culture

The human olfactory mucosa is located in the middle and superior turbinates, and the septum of nasal cavity. Olfactory mucosa plays an important role in detection of odours and it is also the only nervous tissue that is exposed to the external environment. This property leads to easy access to the olfactory mucosa for achieving various researches. The lamina propria of olfactory mucosa consists of olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) that cover the nerve fibers of olfactory. Here we describe a protocol for isolation of OECs from biopsy of human olfactory mucosa.

We here provide a detailed protocol for the isolation and culture of primary mouse sensory neurons. The cell bodies of sensory afferent pseudounipolar neurons are located in dorsal root ganglia (DRGs) along the vertebral column. Dissected mouse DRGs can be dissociated into single cells by enzymatic digestion to obtain primary cultures of mouse sensory neurons as performed in the studies reported by Khaminets et al. (2015).