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. 1992 Jun;12(3):259–272. doi: 10.1007/BF00712930

Accumulation of different c-erbA transcripts during rat brain development and in cortical neurons cultured in a synthetic medium

Daniele Castiglia 1, Alessandro Cestelli 1, Carlo Di Liegro 1, Lidia Bonfanti 1, Italia Di Liegro 1,✉
PMCID: PMC11567467  PMID: 1330310

Abstract

  1. Accumulation of different c-erbA transcripts was studied, during rat brain maturation and in cortical neurons differentiating in a serum-free medium, by quantitative Northern blot hybridization.

  2. Theα andβ forms of c-erbA mRNAs exhibit different patterns of accumulation, with a precocious increase in theα forms compared with theβ forms bothin vivo and in culture.

  3. erbAα2 mRNA (2.6 kb) is by far the predominant form, with a maximum at birth (PO).

  4. The accumulation patterns of bothα andβ forms show discrete differences in isolated neurons compared to brain cortices; in particular the pattern ofα2 mRNA accumulation in culture suggests its predominant localization to neurons.

  5. The presence of T3 in the culture medium does not have significant effects on the level of any of erbA mRNAs.

  6. Possible implications and relationships with neuronal terminal differentiation are discussed.

Key words: brain development, neuronal cultures, thyroid hormones, c-erbA

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