Differentiation potential of a monoclonal antibody-defined neural progenitor cell population isolated from prenatal rat brain by fluorescence-activated cell sorting.
We have studied the differentiation potential in vitro of a subpopulation of neural progenitor cells from BDIX-rat brain. These cells transiently express a cell surface determinant (CSD) specified by monoclonal antibody (Mab) RB13-2 (Kindler-Röhrborn, A. et al., Differentiation 30 (1985) 53-60), and recently identified as a set of O-acetylated gangliosides (Reinhardt-Maelicke, S. et al., submitted) also recognized by Mab D1.1 (Levine, J.M. et al., J. Neurosci., 4 (1984) 826-831) and partly by Mab JONES (Schlosshauer, B. et al., J. Neurosci., 8 (1988) 580-592), respectively. As analyzed by immunofluorescence, Mab RB13-2 binding brain cells (prenatal days 11-22; postnatal days 7 and 89) were localized in different areas of the proliferative ventricular layer of the prenatal cerebrum and in the external granular layer of the early postnatal cerebellum. No Mab RB13-2 positive brain cells were found in adult brain. Following their isolation by fluorescence activated cell sorting on prenatal day 18, the differentiation potential of Mab RB13-2 binding brain cells was studied by double-immunofluorescence analysis under different conditions of monolayer culture. In the presence of 10% fetal calf serum (FCS), these cells differentiated into glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) positive flat astrocytes, whereas neurons (neurofilament-positive) and a smaller number of stellate astrocytes (GFAP-positive) developed in a chemically defined medium containing 0.5% FCS. Neural progenitor cells binding Mab RB13-2 may thus either retain more than one option for differentiation into specific cell types, or the expression of the CSD specified by Mab RB13-2 may be common to more than one subset of neural progenitor cells (with or without predetermined unidirectional differentiation pathways) whose survival and/or proliferative behavior could be differentially affected by microenvironmental conditions.
Liepelt
U
U
Institut für Zellbiologie (Tumorforschung), Universität Essen, F.R.G.
Kindler-Röhrborn
A
A
Lennartz
K
K
Reinhardt-Maelicke
S
S
Rajewsky
M F
MF
D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000954:Antigens, Surface / Q000378:metabolism*; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology* / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002469:Cell Separation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D010641:Phenotype; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism
D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000954:Antigens, Surface