Neurons: Methods and Applications for the Cell Biologist

Written by cell biologists and neuroscientists, this volume in the Methods in Cell Biology series is a detailed guide for cell biologists who would like to approach their experimental questions using nature's most interesting cells - neurons. Many cell biologists study the properties of cells grown outside of the animal in the controlled environment of a culture dish, but they would benefit from directing their attention to nerve cells as they are well-suited to almost every area of cell biological inquiry. This book lays out numerous simple techniques for growing and carrying out experiments with many varieties of neurons. Subjects include peripheral and central neurons from vertebrate and invertebrate sources, as well as neuron-like cell lines. It also explains recent advances in our ability to introduce exogenous proteins and genes into neurons in culture. Procedures for successful protein infiltration, biolistic transfection, electroporation, and viral transgenic methods in neurons are also presented.With the current and reliable information contained in this volume, growing various kinds of neurons in culture and using them for diverse experimental applications will be easy for cell biologists to master!