A PERMANENT GLIAL PRECURSOR CELL-LINE, IMMORTALIZED WITH THE ADENOVIRUS E1A GENE, UNDERGOES APOPTOSIS IN RESTRICTIVE GROWTH-CONDITIONS

We have previously described some differentiation properties of the ER D.1.1 cell line, obtained after transfer and integration of the adenov irus-5 E1A gene. Depending on the growth conditions, these cells diffe rentiate towards the astrocyte or early oligodendrocyte differentiatio n pathway. However, in growth restrictive conditions, we observed dyin g cells that detached from the monolayer constituted of differentiatin g cells. This led us to examine the characteristics of the dying cells . The study of the low-molecular-weight DNA and the ultrastructural ex amination of chromatin showed that these cells were undergoing apoptos is. The results also suggest that the expression of an integrated poly oma middle T gene can partly save the cells from apoptosis. (C) 1995 A cademic Press, Inc.