title: Phenotypic morphology and the expression of cytoskeletal markers during long-term differentiation of human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells.
abstract: A simple method for differentiating human-derived SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells to provide a stable, mature, neuronal morphology is described. SH-SY5Y cells can be induced to differentiate terminally with retinoic acid in medium with low levels of serum. The morphological differentiation of the parental cell line SK-N-SH was compared with that seen in the SH-SY5Y cells. Changes in the cytoskeleton of SH-SY5Y cells indicated that differentiation proceeds continuously over the 1-month period studied after initiating differentiation. Immunoblot analysis demonstrated increased expression of the high molecular weight neurofilament polypeptide NF-H, the microtubule-associated protein tau, and the synaptic vesicle-associated protein synapsin I, indicating that an increasingly mature, neuronal phenotype was being expressed. The cultures were not dependent on retinoic acid for continued survival. SH-SY5Y cultures differentiated over extended periods should provide a good in vitro model for studying the neurotoxic potential of compounds and mechanisms of toxicity, particularly in longer-term or multiple exposure studies, for example on cytoskeletal function, where acute toxicity is not the aspect of interest.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, University of London, De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8AF, UK.
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Hartley
authors.forename: H B
authors.initials: HB
authors.lastname: Johnston
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nicol
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Baines
authors.forename: B H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Anderton
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Thomas