Neural progenitors from isolated postnatal rat myenteric ganglia: expansion as neurospheres and differentiation in vitro.

Identification of the stem cell niche is crucial for understanding the factors that regulate these cells. Rodent enteric neural crest-derived stem cells have previously been isolated by flow cytometry and culture of cell suspensions from the outer smooth muscle layers or the entire gut wall from postnatal and adult animals. Such cell suspensions contain a mixture of cell types, including smooth muscle, fibroblasts and cells associated with the vasculature and extrinsic innervation.