title: Evidence for heterogeneity of astrocyte de-differentiation in vitro: astrocytes transform into intermediate precursor cells following induction of ACM from scratch-insulted astrocytes.
abstract: Our previous study definitely demonstrated that the mature astrocytes could undergo a de-differentiation process and further transform into pluripotential neural stem cells (NSCs), which might well arise from the effect of diffusible factors released from scratch-insulted astrocytes. However, these neurospheres passaged from one neurosphere-derived from de-differentiated astrocytes possessed a completely distinct characteristic in the differentiation behavior, namely heterogeneity of differentiation. The heterogeneity in cell differentiation has become a crucial but elusive issue. In this study, we show that purified astrocytes could de-differentiate into intermediate precursor cells (IPCs) with addition of scratch-insulted astrocyte-conditioned medium (ACM) to the culture, which can express NG2 and A2B5, the IPCs markers. Apart from the number of NG2(+) and A2B5(+) cells, the percentage of proliferative cells as labeled with BrdU progressively increased with prolonged culture period ranging from 1 to 10 days. Meanwhile, the protein level of A2B5 in cells also increased significantly. These results revealed that not all astrocytes could de-differentiate fully into NSCs directly when induced by ACM, rather they generated intermediate or more restricted precursor cells that might undergo progressive de-differentiation to generate NSCs.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neurosciences, The Fourth Military Medical University, 17 West Chang Le Road, 710032, Xi'an, China. yanghao71_99@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Xin-Hong
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.forename: Rui
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cong
authors.forename: Jing-wen
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Qin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.forename: Xi-Ying
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Jiao
authors.forename: Gong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ju
authors.forename: Si-Wei
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: You
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000941:Antigens / Q000378:metabolism; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D001973:Bromodeoxyuridine; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D054337:Cell Dedifferentiation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D019070:Cell Lineage / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned / Q000494:pharmacology; D005732:Gangliosides / Q000378:metabolism; D009416:Nerve Regeneration / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D039904:Pluripotent Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D011509:Proteoglycans / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D015854:Up-Regulation / Q000502:physiology; D000099216:Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycan 4
chemical_list: D000941:Antigens; D015415:Biomarkers; D001973:Bromodeoxyuridine; D017077:Culture Media, Conditioned; D005732:Gangliosides; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D011509:Proteoglycans; D000099216:Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycan 4; C062875:ganglioside A2B5