Influence of Epidermal Growth Factor on the Maturation of Fetal Rat Brain Cells in Aggregate Culture

Abstract

Maturation of astrocytes, neurons, and oligodendrocytes was studied in serum-free aggregating cell cultures of fetal rat telencephalon by an immunocytochemical approach. Cell type-specific immunofluorescence staining was examined by using antibodies directed against glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and vimentin, two astroglial markers; neuron-specific enolase (NSE) and neurofilament (NF), two neuronal markers, and galactocerebroside (GC), an oligodendroglial marker. It was found that the cellular maturation in aggregates is characterized by distinct developmental increases in immunoreactivity for GFAP, vimentin, NSE, NF, and GC, and by a subsequent decrease of vimentin-positive structures in more differentiated cultures. These findings are in agreement with observations in vivo, and they corroborate previous biochemical studies of this histotypic culture system. Treatment of very immature cultures with a low dose of epidermal growth factor (EGF, 5 ng/ml) enhanced the developmental increase in GFAP, NSE, NF and GC immunoreactivity, suggesting an acceleration of neuronal and glial maturation. In addition, EGF was found to alter the cellular organization within the aggregates, presumably by influencing cell migration.

Relationships between cobalamin, epidermal growth factor, and normal prions in the myelin maintenance of central nervous system

“…EGF increases GFAP synthesis in fetal rat brain cells (Laping et al, 1994;Monnet-Tschudi and Honegger, 1989) although this has not been confirmed in cultured mouse astrocytes (Lazarini et al, 1994).…”

Production, characterization, and efficient transfection of highly pure oligodendrocyte precursor cultures from mouse embryonic neural progenitors

“…In such studies, the production of floating cell aggregates known as neurospheres (Nph) significantly increases cell yields. Such cultures were initially developed as aggregating cultures in which neural precursor development could be analyzed, studying cell/cell interactions and growth factor requirements (Matthieu et al, 1978, Monnet-Tschudi and Honegger, 1989). Neural precursors can be maintained long-term in vitro as floating Nphs.…”

“…Neural precursors can be maintained long-term in vitro as floating Nphs. Nphs have been shown to proliferate efficiently in the presence of epidermal growth factor (EGF) or basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), maintaining their multipotentiality (Monnet-Tschudi and Honegger, 1989; Akesson, et al, 2007; Dictus, et al, 2007). In general, after plating, Nphs produce predominantly astrocytes, along with some oligodendrocyte and neuron progenitors (reviewed in Bazan, et al, 2004; Campos, 2004).…”

Glial Hyaluronate-Binding Protein Expression in Aggregating Brain Cell Cultures

“…4) [ 12,[13][14][15], whereas in monolayer cultures, these factors have been shown rather to stimulate astrocyte proliferation [for review see ref. 15], However, in confluent monolayer cultures of hypothala mic astrocytes, bFGF also caused a differentiation of the astrocytes, accompanied by an increase in G F A P and an increase in tenascin [33], These differences in responsive ness could be due to the facilitated cell-cell interactions in the confluent astrocyte cultures and in the 3-dimen sional, histotypic culture model.…”

“…This culture system has been shown to be capable of morphogenetic cell-cell interactions [9][10][11], and promotes cell differentiation over cell prolifera tion, especially in response to peptide growth factors such as epidermal growth factor (EGF) [12][13][14], fibro blast growth factor (FGF), and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) [15].…”