title: Comparative Microarray Analysis of Proliferating and Differentiating Murine ENS Progenitor Cells.
abstract: Postnatal neural progenitor cells of the enteric nervous system are a potential source for future cell replacement therapies of developmental dysplasia like Hirschsprung's disease. However, little is known about the molecular mechanisms driving the homeostasis and differentiation of this cell pool. In this work, we conducted Affymetrix GeneChip experiments to identify differences in gene regulation between proliferation and early differentiation of enteric neural progenitors from neonatal mice. We detected a total of 1333 regulated genes that were linked to different groups of cellular mechanisms involved in cell cycle, apoptosis, neural proliferation, and differentiation. As expected, we found an augmented inhibition in the gene expression of cell cycle progression as well as an enhanced mRNA expression of neuronal and glial differentiation markers. We further found a marked inactivation of the canonical Wnt pathway after the induction of cellular differentiation. Taken together, these data demonstrate the various molecular mechanisms taking place during the proliferation and early differentiation of enteric neural progenitor cells.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Anatomy and Cell Analysis, University of Tübingen, Österbergstrasse 3, 72074 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Peter Helmut
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Neckel
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Anatomy and Cell Analysis, University of Tübingen, Österbergstrasse 3, 72074 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Roland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mohr
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Anatomy and Cell Analysis, University of Tübingen, Österbergstrasse 3, 72074 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Anatomy and Cell Analysis, University of Tübingen, Österbergstrasse 3, 72074 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hirt
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Anatomy and Cell Analysis, University of Tübingen, Österbergstrasse 3, 72074 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Lothar
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Just