Figure 2.

Neurons trigger the expression of distinct receptor subtypes in astrocytes and promote astrocyte development. Transcript expression levels of different receptor subtypes from RNA-Seq data of (A) day 35 mES_astrocytes and (B) 3–5-month-old adult astrocytes purified by FACS from Aldh1l1-GFP mice (n = 3). Data are shown as the mean ± SD. (C) Average fold-change in the transcript expression of receptor subtypes in mES_astrocyte co-cultures versus mES_astrocyte control cultures. In vivo enriched receptor subtypes that are triggered by neuronal contact are highlighted in red boxes. (D) mES_astrocytes in co-cultures with neurons become morphologically complex in comparison to control cultures, as observed by GFAP immunolabeling. (E) GO terms of top genes that are enriched in co-cultures (p < 0.01). (F) Heatmap showing that mature astrocyte markers are enriched in mES_astrocyte co-cultures in comparison to control mES_astrocyte monocultures.