Co-culture with microglia promotes neural stem cells differentiation into astrocytes / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

ABSTRACT

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Neural stem cells (NSCs) are a self-renewing and multipotent population of the central nervous system (CNS), which are active during development and maintain homeostasis and tissue integrity throughout life. Microglias are an immune cell population resident in the CNS, which have crucial physiological functions in the developing and adult CNS. This study aimed to investigate that whether microglia co-cultured with NSCs could promote astrogliogenesis from NSCs.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Microglia and NSCs were co-cultured in 24-well insert plates. NSCs were plated in the bottom of the well and microglia in the insert. Fluorescent staining, Western blotting and RT-PCR were used to determine the effect of microglia on NSCs differentiation.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Co-culture of microglia and NSCs promoted astrogliogenesis from NSCs. Several key genes, such as Notch 1, Notch 2, Notch 3, Hes 5, and NRSF were downregulated, while the critical genes Id1 and Id2 were upregulated. BMP2 and FGF2 were upregulated.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Microglias act as a regulator of NSCs astrogliogenesis.</p>