Activin promotes astrocytic differentiation of a multipotent neural stem cell line and an astrocyte progenitor cell line from murine central nervous system

The effects of activin A were investigated on the development of a multipot ent neural stem cell line (MEB5) and an astrocyte progenitor cell line (AP- 16) that were established from murine central nervous system (CNS). Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis demonstrated tha t each cell line expresses both type I and type II activin receptors and si gnaling molecules for activin, Smad2, Smad3, and Smad4. Activin A did not a ffect the proliferation of MEB5 and AP-16 cells. When each cell line was tr eated alone with activin A, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), a marke r for astrocytes, was induced in AP-16 cells, but not in MEB5 cells. Howeve r, activin A accelerated the leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF)-induced astro glial differentiation of MEB5 cells. These results suggest that activin pro motes astrocyte differentiation of CNS neural progenitors, and the competen ce to activin is different between multipotent stem cells and unipotent ast rocyte progenitor cells. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.