Skip to main content
PMC home page
The EMBO Journal logoLink to The EMBO Journal
. 1984 Oct;3(10):2243–2247. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1984.tb02122.x

Purified astrocytes promote the in vitro division of a bipotential glial progenitor cell.

M Noble, K Murray
PMCID: PMC557676  PMID: 6542000

Abstract

Optic nerves of neonatal rats contain a bipotential glial progenitor cell which can be induced by tissue culture conditions to differentiate into either an oligodendrocyte (the myelin-forming cell of the CNS) or a type 2 astrocyte (an astrocyte population found only in the myelinated tracts of the CNS). In our previous studies most oligodendrocyte-type 2 astrocyte (O-2A) progenitor cells differentiated within 3 days in vitro with relatively little division of the progenitors or their differentiated progeny. We have now found that the O-2A progenitors are stimulated to divide in culture by purified populations of type 1 astrocytes, another glial cell-type found in the rat optic nerve. This cell-cell interaction appears to be mediated by a soluble factor(s) and results in the production of large numbers of both progenitor cells and oligodendrocytes. As type 1 astrocytes are the major glial cell-type in the optic nerve when oligodendrocytes first begin to be produced in large numbers in vivo, our results suggest that this astrocyte subpopulation may play an important role in expanding the oligodendrocyte population during normal development.

Full text

PDF
2246

Images in this article

2245Fig. 1.
on p.2245

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Abney E. R., Williams B. P., Raff M. C. Tracing the development of oligodendrocytes from precursor cells using monoclonal antibodies, fluorescence-activated cell sorting, and cell culture. Dev Biol. 1983 Nov;100(1):166–171. doi: 10.1016/0012-1606(83)90207-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bartlett P. F., Noble M. D., Pruss R. M., Raff M. C., Rattray S., Williams C. A. Rat neural antigen-2 (RAN-2): a cell surface antigen on astrocytes, ependymal cells, Müller cells and lepto-meninges defined by a monoclonal antibody. Brain Res. 1981 Jan 12;204(2):339–351. doi: 10.1016/0006-8993(81)90593-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bottenstein J. E., Sato G. H. Growth of a rat neuroblastoma cell line in serum-free supplemented medium. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Jan;76(1):514–517. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.1.514. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Eisenbarth G. S., Walsh F. S., Nirenberg M. Monoclonal antibody to a plasma membrane antigen of neurons. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Oct;76(10):4913–4917. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.10.4913. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Johnson G. D., Davidson R. S., McNamee K. C., Russell G., Goodwin D., Holborow E. J. Fading of immunofluorescence during microscopy: a study of the phenomenon and its remedy. J Immunol Methods. 1982 Dec 17;55(2):231–242. doi: 10.1016/0022-1759(82)90035-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Miller R. H., Raff M. C. Fibrous and protoplasmic astrocytes are biochemically and developmentally distinct. J Neurosci. 1984 Feb;4(2):585–592. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.04-02-00585.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Privat A., Valat J., Fulcrand J. Proliferation of neuroglial cell lines in the degenerating optic nerve of young rats. A radioautographic study. J Neuropathol Exp Neurol. 1981 Jan;40(1):46–60. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Pruss R. M. Thy-1 antigen on astrocytes in long-term cultures of rat central nervous system. Nature. 1979 Aug 23;280(5724):688–690. doi: 10.1038/280688a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Raff M. C., Abney E. R., Cohen J., Lindsay R., Noble M. Two types of astrocytes in cultures of developing rat white matter: differences in morphology, surface gangliosides, and growth characteristics. J Neurosci. 1983 Jun;3(6):1289–1300. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.03-06-01289.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Raff M. C., Fields K. L., Hakomori S. I., Mirsky R., Pruss R. M., Winter J. Cell-type-specific markers for distinguishing and studying neurons and the major classes of glial cells in culture. Brain Res. 1979 Oct 5;174(2):283–308. doi: 10.1016/0006-8993(79)90851-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Raff M. C., Miller R. H., Noble M. A glial progenitor cell that develops in vitro into an astrocyte or an oligodendrocyte depending on culture medium. Nature. 1983 Jun 2;303(5916):390–396. doi: 10.1038/303390a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Raff M. C., Mirsky R., Fields K. L., Lisak R. P., Dorfman S. H., Silberberg D. H., Gregson N. A., Leibowitz S., Kennedy M. C. Galactocerebroside is a specific cell-surface antigenic marker for oligodendrocytes in culture. Nature. 1978 Aug 24;274(5673):813–816. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Ranscht B., Clapshaw P. A., Price J., Noble M., Seifert W. Development of oligodendrocytes and Schwann cells studied with a monoclonal antibody against galactocerebroside. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 Apr;79(8):2709–2713. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.8.2709. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Skoff R. P., Price D. L., Stocks A. Electron microscopic autoradiographic studies of gliogenesis in rat optic nerve. I. Cell proliferation. J Comp Neurol. 1976 Oct 1;169(3):291–312. doi: 10.1002/cne.901690303. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Skoff R. P., Price D. L., Stocks A. Electron microscopic autoradiographic studies of gliogenesis in rat optic nerve. II. Time of origin. J Comp Neurol. 1976 Oct 1;169(3):313–334. doi: 10.1002/cne.901690304. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. VAN HEYNINGEN W. E. The fixation of tetanus toxin, strychnine, serotonin and other substances by ganglioside. J Gen Microbiol. 1963 Jun;31:375–387. doi: 10.1099/00221287-31-3-375. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The EMBO Journal are provided here courtesy of Nature Publishing Group

RESOURCES