Gene Expression Changes in the Course of Neural Progenitor Cell Differentiation

¹ Max-Planck-Institute for Molecular Genetics, Ihnestr 73, 14195 Berlin, Germany
² Freie Universität Berlin, Fachbereich Biologie, Chemie, Pharmazie, Takustr 3, 14195 Berlin, Germany

³ corresponding author
Ihnestr 73, 14195 Berlin, Germany. Tel. +49 30 8413 1243, Fax +49 30 7413 1383, E-mail: nuber@molgen.mpg.de

ABSTRACT

The molecular changes underlying neural progenitor differentiation are largely unknown. We applied cDNA microarrays with 13,627 clones to measure dynamic gene expression changes during the in vitro differentiation of neural progenitor cells that were 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 24 h, 48 h, and 96 h after differentiation. Expression changes of selected genes were confirmed by semi-quantitative reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR. Ten different groups of gene expression dynamics obtained by cluster analysis are described. In order to correlate selected gene expression changes to the localization of respective proteins, we carried out immunostainings of cultured neurospheres 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 subventricular zone stem cell niche.

• Publication
• Raw Data: NT4 (Excel)
• Raw Data: BDNF (Excel)
• Raw Data: NT4 (Tab delimited)
• Raw Data: BDNF (Tab delimited)
• Normalized Dataset: NT4 (Excel)
• Normalized Dataset: BDNF (Excel)
• Normalized Dataset: NT4 (Tab delimited)
• Normalized Dataset: BDNF (Tab delimited)
• Annotation (Excel)
• Annotation (Tab delimited)
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Christine Steinhoff - Last Change: 30.06.04