title: Astroglia genesis in vitro: distinct effects of retinoic acid in different phases of neural stem cell differentiation.
abstract: In the developing CNS, the manifestation of the macro-glial phenotypes is delayed behind the formation of neurons. The "neurons first--glia second" principle seems to be valid for neural tissue differentiation throughout the neuraxis, but the reasons behind are far from clear. In the presented study, the mechanisms of this timing were investigated in vitro, in the course of the neural differentiation of one cell derived NE-4C neuroectodermal stem and P19 embryonic carcinoma cells. The data demonstrated that astrocyte formation coincided in time with the maturation of postmitotic neurons, but the close vicinity of neurons did not initiate astrocyte formation before schedule. All-trans retinoic acid, a well-known inducer of neuronal differentiation, on the other hand, blocked effectively the astroglia production if present in defined stages of the in vitro neuroectodermal cell differentiation. According to the data, retinoic acid plays at least a dual role in astrogliogenesis: while it is needed for committing neural progenitors for a future production of astrocytes, it prevents premature astrogliogenesis by inhibiting the differentiation of primed glial progenitors.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Experimental Medicine of Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Nóra
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hádinger
authors.forename: Balázs V
authors.initials: BV
authors.lastname: Varga
authors.forename: Sára
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Berzsenyi
authors.forename: Zsuzsanna
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Környei
authors.forename: Emília
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Madarász
authors.forename: Balázs
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Herberth
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D002460:Cell Line; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D020287:In Situ Nick-End Labeling; D051379:Mice; D039902:Multipotent Stem Cells / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D055495:Neurogenesis / Q000502:physiology; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology*; D016548:Prosencephalon / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D014212:Tretinoin / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D014212:Tretinoin