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Astrocyte differentiation mediated by LIF in cooperation with BMP2
Author(s) -
Nakashima Kinichi,
Yanagisawa Makoto,
Arakawa Hirokazu,
Taga Tetsuya
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/s0014-5793(99)00997-7
Subject(s) - leukemia inhibitory factor , neuroepithelial cell , astrocyte , microbiology and biotechnology , bone morphogenetic protein 2 , bone morphogenetic protein , biology , chemistry , glycoprotein 130 , medicine , in vitro , endocrinology , signal transduction , central nervous system , immunology , stem cell , cytokine , interleukin 6 , biochemistry , neural stem cell , gene , stat3
Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) 2 signal via different receptor systems. We have recently demonstrated that simultaneous stimulation of fetal mouse neuroepithelial cells with these distinct types of cytokines synergistically induces astrocyte differentiation in a 2‐day culture. Here we show that astrocytes spontaneously emerge in vitro without exogenously added LIF and BMP2 in the culture of neuroepithelial cells for a much longer period. This spontaneous astrocyte differentiation is completely impaired when neuroepithelial cells deficient for gp130, a signal transducing receptor component for LIF, are used. We also show that LIF and BMP2 as well as related cytokines and respective receptor molecules are expressed in fetal mouse brain and cultured neuroepithelial cells. Taken together with our previous finding that prenatal mouse brain deficient for gp130 exhibits a severe reduction of astrocytes, it is suggested that LIF acts cooperatively with BMP2 in vivo to induce astrocyte differentiation in mouse developing brain.