Neuronal Differentiatin of P19 Cells.
- Author:
Soyeon KIM
1
;
Sun Uk KIM
;
Chul Sang LEE
;
Young Don LEE
;
Hae Young SUH-KIM
Author Information
1. Department of Anatomy, School of Medicine, Ajou University, Suwon 442-749, South Korea.
- Publication Type:In Vitro ; Original Article
- Keywords:
P19 cell;
differentiation;
neuron
- MeSH:
Ascorbic Acid;
Blotting, Western;
Carcinoma, Embryonal;
Mercaptoethanol;
Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules;
Neurons*;
Tretinoin
- From:Korean Journal of Anatomy
2001;34(4):345-351
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
-
Abstract:
P19, murine embryonal carcinoma (EC) cells can be induced to differentiate into neurons in the presence of retinoic acid (RA). To investigate neuronal differentiation of P19 cells in details, P19 aggregates were obtained in the presence or absence of RA, ascorbic acid (AA) and 2-mercaptoethanol (2-ME) in bacteriological Petri dishes. When the aggregates were transferred into the serum depleted medium, P19 cells exhibited dramatic morphological changes. Cells contained long and thin processes as detected in differentiated neurons. Western blot analysis showed that treatment of RA and AA induced expression of neuron-specific markers such as NCAM, NSE and Tuj1. Expression of GFAP was not detected, suggesting that P19 cells differentiate into neurons under our experimental condition. Immunocytochemical studies also revealed that treatment of RA and AA increased expression of NCAM and Tuj1. On the contrary, 2-ME was ineffective in the neuronal differentiation of P19 cells, which is consistent the results from the western blot analysis. These results suggest that differentiated P19 cells have similar characteristics to those of typically differentiated neurons. This study also suggests that P19 cells may provide useful tools to study neuronal differentiation in vitro.
