G. Struckhoff et A. Turzynski, DEMONSTRATION OF PARATHYROID HORMONE-RELATED PROTEIN IN MENINGES AND ITS RECEPTOR IN ASTROCYTES - EVIDENCE FOR A PARACRINE MENINGO ASTROCYTIC, Brain research, 676(1), 1995, pp. 1-9
In contrast to the nervous and glial tissue of the adult rat brain the
meninges are immunoreactive for parathyroid hormone-related protein (
PTHrP), a hormone that binds with high affinity to the recently cloned
PTH/PTHrP receptor. Accordingly immunoreactivity is found in cultured
meningeal cells but not in astrocytes. In contrast, astrocytes but no
t meningeal cells synthesize the mRNA for the PTHrP receptor shown by
reverse transcription of total RNA preparations and subsequent polymer
ase chain reaction with primers specific for the PTHrP receptor. The e
xpression of the PTH/PTHrP receptor was confirmed by the dose-dependen
t activation of the adenylate cyclase in astrocytes and the rapid deve
lopment of cellular processes following on incubation with PTHrP. We c
onclude that PTHrP secreted by meninges forms a paracrine meningo-astr
ocytic loop and may cause astrocytic differentiation, possibly involve
d in the formation of the glial limiting membrane.