Postnatal neurons vs embryonic neurons!!??? - (Feb/22/2011 )

Most people I know use embryonic mice to isolate neurons. I did some searching online and found that there are protocols using which one can get neurons from postnatal mice. Im just wondering, what is the reason because of which people use embryonic mice instead of postnatal? Wouldn't neurons from postnatal or adult mice be better models for studying the effects of a potential therapy?? Is it harder to get neurons from postnatal mice? I just don't want to kill the mother while doing a neuron prep .....I know Ill HAVE to kill the pups anyways...its just an ethical issue I have.

Embryonic neurons are more viable in culture due to their greater plasticity, so especially if you're having to keep them for any length of time, the embryonic cultures will be better. We used neonates for glial cultures, but embryonic for neuron cultures, and to be honest, because the neonates aren't susceptible to euthanasia from asphyxiation by CO2, you have to decapitate them, which was emotionally much more difficult for me than the embryonic cultures where you could euthanize the mother.