Purification of prominin-1⁺ stem cells from postnatal mouse cerebellum

Most cerebellar neurons arise from two embryonic stem niches: a rhombic lip niche, which generates all the cerebellar excitatory glutamatergic neurons, and a ventricular zone niche, which generates the inhibitory GABAergic Purkinje cells, which are neurons that constitute the deep cerebellar nuclei and Bergman glia. Recently, a third stem cell niche has been described that arises as a secondary germinal zone from the ventricular zone niche. The cells of this niche are defined by the cell surface marker prominin-1 and are localized to the developing white matter of the postnatal cerebellum. This niche accounts for the late born molecular layer GABAergic interneurons along with postnatally generated cerebellar astrocytes. In addition to their developmental role, this niche is gaining translational importance in regards to its involvement in neurodegeneration and tumorigenesis. The biology of these cells has been difficult to decipher because of a lack of efficient techniques for their purification. Demonstrated here are efficient methods to purify, culture, and differentiate these postnatal cerebellar stem cells.