The in vitro isolation of astrocytes is a key factor in establishing cell-based models for studying animal central nervous system (CNS) diseases. In this study, cerebral cortices from newborn rats were cultured in vitro, and cultures enriched with astrocytes were obtained, providing an experimental model for investigating the biological functions of astrocytes. Newborn rats (within 24 hours after birth) were used as experimental subjects. Bilateral cerebral cortices were harvested under sterile conditions, and cell suspensions were prepared by mechanical pipetting to disperse the cells. Differential adhesion treatment was performed to remove fibroblast components. The cell suspensions were subjected to primary culture for 8–10 days. When the cells fused into a confluent monolayer and covered the bottom of the culture flask, trypsinization was carried out for subculture. Astrocytes were identified using glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) immunohistochemical staining. This improved astrocyte culture method successfully isolated and cultured astrocytes with a purification rate of over 95%. The rat astrocytes cultured by the method described in this experiment exhibited good growth and high purity, laying a solid experimental foundation for subsequent studies on the biological functions of astrocytes.

Luoxin Huang, Lanqing Meng. A Method for Isolation and Culture of Rat Astrocytes. Frontiers in Medical Science Research (2025), Vol. 7, Issue 4: 122-125. https://doi.org/10.25236/FMSR.2025.070416.

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