Table 4.
List of functionally-relevant genes that co-express with Cx43/GLA1 in spinal cord periplaque areas and harbor an astrocyte-specific profile in normal mature human astrocytes.
| Gene Symbol | Astrocytes (Mean FPKM) | SD | Other CNS Cells (Mean FPKM) | SD | Fold Change | p-Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FGF2 | 15.9 | 4.1 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 16.9 | 5.40 × 10−5 |
| GLIS3 | 5.5 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 16.1 | 5.29 × 10−5 |
| SDC2 | 34.0 | 9.7 | 1.8 | 1.6 | 18.5 | 5.50 × 10−5 |
| IL33 | 17.4 | 10.4 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 46.1 | 5.04 × 10−5 |
| GFAP | 119.7 | 113.1 | 8.5 | 11.9 | 14.2 | 5.91 × 10−5 |
| SOX9 | 50.5 | 18.6 | 2.2 | 1.9 | 22.7 | 5.52 × 10−5 |
| SPARCL1 | 1913.8 | 576.8 | 104.0 | 137.6 | 18.4 | 1.47 × 10−5 |
| IL17D | 21.7 | 4.8 | 1.9 | 1.7 | 11.2 | 5.52 × 10−5 |
| ID4 | 22.5 | 7.8 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 51.3 | 5.20 × 10−5 |
| GPC4 | 3.5 | 1.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 17.4 | 4.25 × 10−5 |
The human CNS RNA-Seq database published by the Ben Barres group [49,50] was used to determine the level of astrocyte specificity in functionally-relevant genes that co-expressed with Cx43/GJA1 in spinal cord periplaques. Measures in other CNS cells include pooled results obtained by RNA-Seq on human neurons, endothelial cells, oligodendrocytes and microglia. Statistical comparisons were performed with a Mann–Whitney test. SD: standard deviation; FKPM: fragments per kilobase of exon per million fragments.