title: Wnt proteins promote neuronal differentiation in neural stem cell culture.
abstract: Wnt signaling is implicated in the control of cell growth and differentiation during CNS development from studies of mouse and chick models, but its action at the cellular level has been poorly understand. In this study, we examine the in vitro function of Wnt signaling in embryonic neural stem cells, dissociated from neurospheres derived from E11.5 mouse telencephalon. Conditioned media containing active Wnt-3a proteins are added to the neural stem cells and its effect on regeneration of neurospheres and differentiation into neuronal and glial cells was examined. Wnt-3a proteins inhibit regeneration of neurospheres, but promote differentiation into MAP2-positive neuronal cells. Wnt-3a proteins also increase the number of GFAP-positive astrocytes but suppress the number of oligodendroglial lineage cells expressing PDGFR or O4. These results indicate that Wnt-3a signaling can inhibit the maintenance of neural stem cells, but rather promote the differentiation of neural stem cells into several cell lineages.
authors.affiliation: Kondoh Differentiation Signaling Project, Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology (ERATO), Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST), Kinki Innovation Center, 14 Yoshida-Kawaramachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8305, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Muroyama
authors.forename: Hisato
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kondoh
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takada
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned; D051379:Mice; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects; D011506:Proteins / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects; D051153:Wnt Proteins; D060508:Wnt3 Protein; D060509:Wnt3A Protein
chemical_list: D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned; D011506:Proteins; D051153:Wnt Proteins; D060508:Wnt3 Protein; D060509:Wnt3A Protein; C555511:Wnt3a protein, mouse