title: Transcriptional analysis of glial cell differentiation in the postnatal murine spinal cord.
abstract: Postnatal murine spinal cord represents a good model system to study mammalian central nervous system myelination in vivo as a basis for further studies in demyelinating diseases. Transcriptional changes were analyzed in SJL/J mice on postnatal day 0, 14, 49 and 231 (P0, P14, P49, P231) employing Affymetrix GeneChip Mouse Genome 430 2.0 Arrays. Additionally, marker gene signatures for astrocyte and oligodendrocyte lineage-stages were defined to study their gene expression in more detail. In addition, immunohistochemistry was used to quantify the abundance of commonly used glial cell markers. 6092 differentially regulated genes (DEGs) were identified. The up-regulated DEGs at P14, P49 and P231 compared to P0 exhibited significantly enriched associations to gene ontology terms such as myelination and lipid metabolic transport and down-regulated DEGs to neurogenesis and axonogenesis. Expression values of marker gene signatures for neural stem cells, oligodendrocyte precursor cells, and developing astrocytes were constantly decreasing, whereas myelinating oligodendrocyte and mature astrocyte markers showed a steady increase. Molecular findings were substantiated by immunohistochemical observations. The transcriptional changes observed are an important reference for future analysis of degenerative and inflammatory conditions in the spinal cord.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany; Center for Systems Neuroscience, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Barbara B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Raddatz
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany; Center for Systems Neuroscience, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Annika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lehmbecker
authors.affiliation: Department of Non-Clinical Drug Safety, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG, Biberach (Riß), Germany.
authors.forename: Arno
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kalkuhl
authors.affiliation: Department of Non-Clinical Drug Safety, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG, Biberach (Riß), Germany.
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Deschl
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany; Center for Systems Neuroscience, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Baumgärtner
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany; Center for Systems Neuroscience, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany. Electronic address: Reiner.Ulrich@tiho-hannover.de.
authors.forename: Reiner
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ulrich
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D051379:Mice; D009185:Myelin Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D009457:Neuroglia / Q000145:classification / Q000378:metabolism*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000166:cytology* / Q000254:growth & development*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D009185:Myelin Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins
keywords: Development; Microarray; Myelination; Oligodendrocyte Precursor Cells; Oligodendrocytes; Spinal cord