Toda M, Asou H, Miura M, Toya S, Uyemura K
Department of Physiology, Keio University, School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Neuroreport. 1994 Oct 3;5(15):1969-72. doi: 10.1097/00001756-199410000-00033.
Accumulating evidence indicates the importance of astrocytes in neuronal development and regeneration. While glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is believed to mediate the morphology of developing astrocytes, its precise function remains unknown. To analyse the function of GFAP in astrocytes, we established GFAP-expressing cell lines by transfection of mouse GFAP cDNA into mouse fibroblast L cells. Stable transfectants expressed GFAP uniformly in the cytoplasm with no phenotypic changes and exhibited extended processes rich in GFAP. GFAP-expressing cells significantly promoted the neurite outgrowth of rat cerebral cortex neurones in the co-culture system. Analysis of the products of GFAP-expressing cells revealed an increase in production of laminin, but not fibronectin. These results suggest that L cells expressing GFAP increase laminin production, leading to promotion of neurite outgrowth.
越来越多的证据表明星形胶质细胞在神经元发育和再生中具有重要作用。虽然胶质纤维酸性蛋白（GFAP）被认为介导发育中星形胶质细胞的形态，但它的确切功能仍然未知。为了分析GFAP在星形胶质细胞中的功能，我们通过将小鼠GFAP cDNA转染到小鼠成纤维细胞L细胞中建立了表达GFAP的细胞系。稳定转染子在细胞质中均匀表达GFAP，没有表型变化，并表现出富含GFAP的延长突起。在共培养系统中，表达GFAP的细胞显著促进了大鼠大脑皮质神经元的轴突生长。对表达GFAP细胞的产物分析显示层粘连蛋白产量增加，但纤连蛋白产量未增加。这些结果表明，表达GFAP的L细胞增加层粘连蛋白的产生，从而促进轴突生长。
