Prospectively isolated CD133/CD24-positive ependymal cells from the adult spinal cord and lateral ventricle wall differ in their long-term in vitro self-renewal and in vivo gene expression.
In contrast to ependymal cells located above the subventricular zone (SVZ) of the adult lateral ventricle wall (LVW), adult spinal cord (SC) ependymal cells possess certain neural stem cell characteristics. The molecular basis of this difference is unknown. In this study, antibodies against multiple cell surface markers were applied to isolate pure populations of SC and LVW ependymal cells, which