GENE-REGULATION DURING NEURONAL AND NONNEURONAL DIFFERENTIATION OF NTERA2 HUMAN TERATOCARCINOMA-DERIVED STEM-CELLS

We constructed cDNA libraries from a clonal human teratocarcinoma-deri ved cell line and two retinoic acid-induced derivatives: a homogeneous population of neurons and a FACS-isolated, non-neuronal population. T hese libraries are large and representative of the cells from which th ey were derived, as determined by colony hybridization. PCR analysis i ndicates that the transcripts encoding P- and E-cadherin are down-regu lated whereas the the prion protein (PrP) transcript is up-regulated i n neurons. These cells offer a promising system for investigations of human prion infection and the cDNA libraries provide a source of neuro n-specific genes.