REGULATION OF GLIAL FIBRILLARY ACIDIC PROTEIN IN SERUM-FREE MOUSE EMBRYO (SFME) CELLS BY LEUKEMIA INHIBITORY FACTOR AND RELATED PEPTIDES

The serum-free mouse embryo (SFME) cell line, derived in serum-free me dium from 16-day-old mouse embryos, exhibits unique properties. SFME c ells grow indefinitely in culture without senescence, require epiderma l growth factor (EGF) or fibroblast growth factor (FGF) for survival a nd are growth-inhibited by serum. The cell line expresses glial fibril lary acidic protein (GFAP) in response to transforming growth factor b eta or serum and cells with similar properties can be isolated directl y from brain. Culture of SFME cells with leukemia inhibitory factor (L IF), a peptide implicated in neural tissue development, also resulted in expression of GFAP. Other peptides that share signal transduction m echanisms with LIF - ciliary neurotropic factor, oncostatin M and inte rleukin-6 - also caused expression of GFAP in these cells. These effec ts were inhibited by concentrations of EGF or FGF that promoted rapid cell growth.