MS 5-3: Gene Expression Changes in the Course of Neural Progenitor Cell Differentiation

The molecular changes underlying neural progenitor differentiation are largely unknown. We applied cDNA microarrays with 13,603 clones to measure dynamic gene expression changes during the in vitro differentiation of neural progenitor cells that had been isolated from the subventricular zone of postnatal day 7 mice and grown in vitro as neurospheres. In two experimental series in which we withdrew EGF and added the neurotrophins NT4 or BDNF, four time points were investigated: undifferentiated cells grown as neurospheres, and cells after 24 h, 48 h, and 96 h of differentiation. Expression changes of selected genes were confirmed by semi-quantitative reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR. Cluster analyses revealed ten different groups of gene expression dynamics. In order to correlate selected gene expression changes to the production of respective proteins, we carried out immunostainings of cultured cells and of brain sections from adult mice. Our results provide new insights into the genetic program of neural progenitor differentiation and give strong hints to as yet unknown cellular communications within the adult SVZ stem cell niche.

Ulf Gurok, Christine Steinhoff, Bettina Liplmwilz, II.-HUger Ropers, Constance Scharff, Ulrike A. Nnber

Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Berlin, Germany

Copyright Urban & Fischer Verlag Mar 2004