Mouse cell lines have the unique and natural ability to spontaneously transform and become immortalised, so that the cells can grow indefinitely in culture and maintained continuously. But how exactly is this? Can I assume that the cells upon delivery from cell repositories (eg. ATCC) could grow indefinitely already?
Cell lines are capable of growing indefinitely if maintained under appropriate conditions. However, Primary cells have only limited passage time 7-15 passages depending on the cells before it undergoes senescence. These cells can be immortalized by several methods such as using viral DNA, telomerase expression etc. Check the catalog description whether these primary cells are immortalized by virus or hTERT or other methods.
You should probably contact the company to see if they are immortalized. If its neurons from cerebella, then most likely they have been immortalized as a cell line, as differentiated neurons do not 'divide' and thus cannot be passaged.
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