Objective To investigate the method of cultivation and the feature of differentiation of spinal cordderived stem cells in vitro.Methods The neural stemcells from spinal cord of 15 days fetal rats were harvested and cultivated in aserumfree limited medium. The stem cells were induced to differentiate and theresults were identified by cellular immunohistochemistry. Results Lots of stem cells were obtained from the spinal cord of fetal rats and the sphere of stemcells was formed about 10 days. Neural stem cells can give rise to mature neurons and astrocytes.Conclusion Epidermal growth factor/basic fibroblast growth factor serum-free limited medium can promote the proliferation activity ofthe stem cells. Spinal cord-derived stem cells can differentiate into glial cells and neurons.