title: Induction and segregation of glial intermediate filament expression in the RT4 family of peripheral nervous system cell lines.
abstract: We have found glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), the major component of astrocyte intermediate filaments, to be expressed in cell lines of the RT4 peripheral neurotumor family. The RT4 family is a "stem-cell-like" cell line, RT4-AC, that spontaneously undergoes differentiation in culture to three derivative cell types. This process, termed cell-type conversion, results in a segregation among the derivative cell types of parental cell phenotypes that have been described as neuronal-like or glial-like. We have identified a 50-kDa GFAP-immunoreactive cytoskeletal protein and GFAP mRNA in continuous RT4-AC and RT4-D (glial-type derivative) cell lines, but not in two presumptive neuronal-type cell lines. This result suggests that GFAP gene expression is coordinately coupled with the expression of other glial properties during cell-type conversion. In addition, the RT4-AC and RT4-D sublines were found to significantly express GFAP only at high cell densities and not during logarithmic growth and to express GFAP precociously during morphological differentiation following treatment with 1 mM N6, O2'-dibutyryladenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate. These observations closely reflect reports of glial filament expression in astrocyte cultures, suggesting that a common regulatory mechanism is employed by central and peripheral nervous system glia.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D003994:Bucladesine / Q000494:pharmacology; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002460:Cell Line; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000235:genetics*; D008970:Molecular Weight; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000378:metabolism; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D010525:Peripheral Nerves / Q000378:metabolism*; D010641:Phenotype; D012313:RNA / Q000032:analysis
chemical_list: D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D012313:RNA; D003994:Bucladesine