Neural Cell Lines

The availability, in the past three decades, of well-characterized and immortalized neural cell lines has led to a rapid expansion of knowledge in many aspects of neurobiology. The major advantages of cell lines are that they are capable of long-term or indefinite growth, and generally represent a single cell type, providing a degree of reproducibility and simplicity in an otherwise complicated biological field. With these advantages come disadvantages as well, but careful experimental design, and an appreciation of the limits of the approach, allows the investigator using neural cell lines a powerful tool in answering precise questions with a minimum of interpretational complications. Furthermore, the use of cell lines eliminates the considerable cost and other concerns associated with animals as a source of experimental material. This chapter addresses the usefulness, limitations, and availability of neural cell lines. Because methodology of routine cell culture is covered in other chapters of this volume, general technical aspects of laboratory manipulations of the lines are not covered here.