title: Transcriptomic analyses of primary astrocytes under TNFα treatment.
abstract: Astrocytes, the most abundant glial cell population in the central nervous system, have important functional roles in the brain as blood brain barrier maintenance, synaptic transmission or intercellular communications [1], [2]. Numerous studies suggested that astrocytes exhibit a functional and morphological high degree of plasticity. For example, following any brain injury, astrocytes become reactive and hypertrophic. This phenomenon, also called reactive gliosis, is characterized by a set of progressive gene expression and cellular changes [3]. Interestingly, in this context, astrocytes can re-acquire neurogenic properties. It has been shown that astrocytes can undergo dedifferentiation upon injury and inflammation, and may re-acquire the potentiality of neural progenitors [4], [5], [6], [7]. To assess the effect of inflammation on astrocytes, primary mouse astrocytes were treated with tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα), one of the main pro-inflammatory cytokines. The strength of this study is that pure primary astrocytes were used. As microglia are highly reactive immune cells, we used a magnetic cell sorting separation (MACS) method to further obtain highly pure astrocyte cultures devoid of microglia. Here, we provide details of the microarray data, which have been deposited in the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) under the series accession number GSE73022. The analysis and interpretation of these data are included in Gabel et al. (2015). Analysis of gene expression indicated that the NFκB pathway-associated genes were induced after a TNFα treatment. We have shown that primary astrocytes devoid of microglia can respond to a TNFα treatment with the re-expression of genes implicated in the glial cell development.
authors.affiliation: Life Sciences Research Unit, Faculty of Science, Technology and Communication, University of Luxembourg, Campus Limpertsberg, 162A, avenue de la Faïencerie, L-1511 Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: Cindy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Birck
authors.affiliation: Life Sciences Research Unit, Faculty of Science, Technology and Communication, University of Luxembourg, Campus Limpertsberg, 162A, avenue de la Faïencerie, L-1511 Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Koncina
authors.affiliation: Life Sciences Research Unit, Faculty of Science, Technology and Communication, University of Luxembourg, Campus Limpertsberg, 162A, avenue de la Faïencerie, L-1511 Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: Tony
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Heurtaux
authors.affiliation: Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, University of Luxembourg, Campus Belval, 6, avenue du Swing, L-4367 Belvaux, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Glaab
authors.affiliation: Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine, University of Luxembourg, Campus Belval, 6, avenue du Swing, L-4367 Belvaux, Luxembourg; NorLux Neuro-Oncology Laboratory, Luxembourg Institute of Health, 84, Val Fleuri, L-1526 Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Michelucci
authors.affiliation: Life Sciences Research Unit, Faculty of Science, Technology and Communication, University of Luxembourg, Campus Limpertsberg, 162A, avenue de la Faïencerie, L-1511 Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Heuschling
authors.affiliation: Life Sciences Research Unit, Faculty of Science, Technology and Communication, University of Luxembourg, Campus Limpertsberg, 162A, avenue de la Faïencerie, L-1511 Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
authors.forename: Luc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Grandbarbe
keywords: Gene expression; Inflammation; Microarrays; Primary astrocytes