A method for gene transfer, single isolation and in vitro assay for neural stem cells

The neurosphere method is widely used to examine self-renewal activity and the multipotency of neural stem cells (NSCs). We developed an efficient method for introducing a transgene into neurospheres using a retroviral vector and isolating a transgenic subpopulation of NSCs labeled with green fluorescent protein (GFP) using fluorescence-activated cell sorting, enabling these cells to be used in subsequent biological assays. This method is expected to be useful for studying the function of genes in NSCs.