Regulation of glial differentiation of MHP36 neural multipotent cell line

MHP36 is a nestin bFGF-dependent cell line isolated from embryonic hippocam pus using a thermolabile form of SV40 T antigen. When grafted in ischemic h ippocampus MHP36 cells differentiate and alleviate the cognitive deficit as sociated with the lesion. We report here in vitro features of MHP36 cells, First, we found that T Ag expression was not necessary for MHP36 growth as cells cultured at the nonpermissive temperature carry on proliferating at a normal rare, Second, we observed that part of MHP36 cells spontaneously di fferentiate into astrocytes when bFCF is removed at 39 degreesC. This diffe rentiation was increased 4-fold by leukemia inhibitory factor. Third, we fo und that the majority of cells spontaneously expressed oligodendrocytic mar kers (CNPase, A2B5, GalC) when cultured at low density. NeuroReport 12:2237 -2241 (C) 2001 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.