title: Co-culture with microglia promotes neural stem cells differentiation into astrocytes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Neural stem cells (NSCs) are a self-renewing and multipotent population of the central nervous system (CNS), which are active during development and maintain homeostasis and tissue integrity throughout life. Microglias are an immune cell population resident in the CNS, which have crucial physiological functions in the developing and adult CNS. This study aimed to investigate that whether microglia co-cultured with NSCs could promote astrogliogenesis from NSCs.
  
  
  METHODS
  Microglia and NSCs were co-cultured in 24-well insert plates. NSCs were plated in the bottom of the well and microglia in the insert. Fluorescent staining, Western blotting and RT-PCR were used to determine the effect of microglia on NSCs differentiation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Co-culture of microglia and NSCs promoted astrogliogenesis from NSCs. Several key genes, such as Notch 1, Notch 2, Notch 3, Hes 5, and NRSF were downregulated, while the critical genes Id1 and Id2 were upregulated. BMP2 and FGF2 were upregulated.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Microglias act as a regulator of NSCs astrogliogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Breast Pathology, Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital, Key Laboratory of Breast Cancer Prevention and Therapy of the Ministry of Education and Key Laboratory of Cancer Prevention and Therapy of Tianjin, Tianjin 300060, China.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Yong-Jie
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Ma
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D015153:Blotting, Western; D055396:Bone Morphogenetic Protein 2 / Q000235:genetics; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D018920:Coculture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 / Q000235:genetics; D051798:Inhibitor of Differentiation Protein 1 / Q000235:genetics; D051797:Inhibitor of Differentiation Protein 2 / Q000235:genetics; D017628:Microglia / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D058953:Neural Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins; D055396:Bone Morphogenetic Protein 2; D016222:Fibroblast Growth Factor 2; D051798:Inhibitor of Differentiation Protein 1; D051797:Inhibitor of Differentiation Protein 2; D012097:Repressor Proteins; C525720:Bmp2 protein, rat; C489686:Hes5 protein, rat; C497454:ID1 protein, rat; C497451:Id2 protein, rat