In vitro expression and regulation of ciliary neurotrophic factor and its alpha receptor subunit in neonatal rat olfactory ensheathing cells

During development and in the adult, ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF) is expressed at high levels in the olfactory system. In the present study, we asked whether neonatal rat olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) express CNTF- and CNTF receptor alpha (CNTFR alpha)-mRNA in vitro and studied the regula tion of both transcripts in response to growth factor and forskolin (FSK) t reatment. We show here that OECs in vitro express CNTF and CNTFR alpha -mRN A under control conditions. Administration of FSK increased the expression of CNTFRa while lowering the levels of CNTF. Contrary to fibroblast growth factor-2, CNTF did not stimulate the proliferation of OECs. The observation that OECs express both the ligand and part of its receptor complex may ind icate that CNTF exerts paracrine and/or autocrine effects in vivo, which ap parently do not include the regulation of cell division. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.