Regulation of Cortical Dendrite Morphology and Spine Organization by Secreted Semaphorins: A Primary Culture Approach

: Primary tissue culture is an invaluable technique in cell biology and has a long history in demonstrating its versatility in characterizing cellular morphology, function, and behavior. Here, we describe a modified, low density, long-term, primary neuron culture system to characterize dendritic morphology and synaptic spine organization in developing mouse cortical neurons. While this method can be applied to investigate the signaling pathways of a range of extracellular cues' effect on neuronal development, we focus on how distinct secreted semaphorins regulate dendritic elaboration and spine morphogenesis in deep layer cortical neurons.