title: Astrocyte differentiation mediated by LIF in cooperation with BMP2.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakashima
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yanagisawa
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Arakawa
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Taga
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000502:physiology*; D055396:Bone Morphogenetic Protein 2; D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000196:embryology; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D016207:Cytokines / Q000378:metabolism; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D006131:Growth Inhibitors / Q000502:physiology*; D015850:Interleukin-6; D053605:Leukemia Inhibitory Factor; D008222:Lymphokines / Q000502:physiology*; D051907:Lysosomal Membrane Proteins; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013997:Time Factors; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta; D052118:Lysosomal-Associated Membrane Protein 1
chemical_list: D055396:Bone Morphogenetic Protein 2; D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins; D016207:Cytokines; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D006131:Growth Inhibitors; D015850:Interleukin-6; D053605:Leukemia Inhibitory Factor; D008222:Lymphokines; D051907:Lysosomal Membrane Proteins; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta; C525719:Bmp2 protein, mouse; C052255:Lamp1 protein, mouse; D052118:Lysosomal-Associated Membrane Protein 1; C507838:Lif protein, mouse