Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 18
Claim 1
Independent Claim
99 words
A culture consisting essentially of mammalian ventral mesencephalon neuron progenitor cells or mammalian ventral mesencephalon neuron progenitor cells and their differentiated counterparts, said neuron progenitor cells being taken from a region of the brain that produces dopaminergic cells at a stage of development when the region of the brain has no dopamine-containing cells, said neuron progenitor cells in said culture having undergone at least one round of cell division after dissociation of tissue used to establish said culture, said progenitor cells in said culture being capable of seven to eight rounds of cell division after dissociation of said tissue.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
99 words
A culture consisting essentially of mammalian ventral mesencephalon neuron progenitor cells or mammalian ventral mesencephalon neuron progenitor cells and their differentiated counterparts, said neuron progenitor cells being taken from a region of the brain that produces dopaminergic cells at a stage of development when the region of the brain has no dopamine-containing cells, said neuron progenitor cells in said culture having undergone at least one round of cell division after dissociation of tissue used to establish said culture, said progenitor cells in said culture being capable of seven to eight rounds of cell division after dissociation of said tissue.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
11 words
The culture of claim 1 wherein said progenitor cells are porcine.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
11 words
The culture of claim 1 wherein said progenitor cells are human.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
19 words
The culture of claim 1 wherein said culture is capable of curing Parkinsonian symptoms about 4 months following implantation.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
11 words
The culture of claim 1 wherein said culture comprises cell aggregates.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
18 words
The culture of claim 5 wherein said aggregates range in size from about 100 to about 1000 microns.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
17 words
The culture of claim 5 wherein said aggregates have loci of undifferentiated cells and loci of neurons.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
34 words
A method for evaluating an agent which inhibits or enhances neuroblast proliferation or differentiation or for evaluating the toxicity of an agent on neurons comprising combining said agent with a culture of claim 1.
Claim 10
Independent Claim
112 words
A method for producing a culture comprising neuron progenitor cells comprising: a. obtaining ventral mesencephalon tissue from a mammalian embryo at Carnegie stages from 15 through 18; b. dissociation of said tissue to obtain single cells and small cell clusters for culture; c. culturing said single cells and small cell clusters in an initial culture medium which promotes the survival of neuron progenitor cells which are capable of proliferating in serum-free, defined medium for a sufficient period of time to produce a cell culture containing neuron progenitor cells capable of proliferating in serum-free, defined medium; and d. growing said cell culture containing neuron progenitor cells in a medium which maintains neuronal cells.
Claim 11
Independent Claim
112 words
A method for producing a culture comprising neuron progenitor cells comprising: a. obtaining ventral mesencephalon tissue from a mammalian embryo at Carnegie stages from 15 through 18; b. dissociation of said tissue to obtain single cells and small cell clusters for culture; c. culturing said single cells and small cell clusters in an initial culture medium which promotes the survival of neuron progenitor cells which are capable of proliferating in serum-free, defined medium for a sufficient period of time to produce a cell culture containing neuron progenitor cells capable of proliferating in serum-free, defined medium; and d. growing said cell culture containing neuron progenitor cells in a medium which maintains neuronal cells.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
20 words
The method of claim 9 wherein said medium of step (c) is Ham's F12 medium supplemented with Chang's supplement C.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method of claim 10 wherein said medium is additionally supplemented with glutamine and superoxide dismutase.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
14 words
The method of claim 9 wherein said medium of step (d) is HN2 medium.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
14 words
The method of claim 16 wherein said medium of step (d) is HN2 medium.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
13 words
The method of claim 9 wherein said period of time is 5 days.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
12 words
The method of claim 9 wherein said culture is an aggregate culture.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
16 words
The method of claim 14 wherein not more than 10 5 cells are seeded per culture.