Evidence for astrocyte heterogeneity: A distinct subpopulation of protoplasmic-like glial cells is detected in transgenic mice expressing Lmo1-lacZ
✍ Scribed by Lia Scotti Campos
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2003
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 654 KB
- Volume
- 43
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0894-1491
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✦ Synopsis
Abstract
The adult mammalian central nervous system (CNS) contains a large number of different cell types, which arise from the ventricular (VZ) and subventricular zones during embryonic development. In this study, we used a transgenic mouse expressing Lmo1‐LacZ from a randomly inserted promoter/reporter gene construct to identify a glial subpopulation. LMO1 is an LIM domain‐containing protein, thought to act in protein‐protein interactions. We found first that in the adult transgenic CNS, β‐galactosidase (β‐gal) was expressed in a specific subpopulation of protoplasmic‐like cells, which did not express detectable levels of glial fibrilary acidic protein unless a lesion was produced. Secondly, during development, β‐gal^+^ cells were found arising from discrete regions of the VZ. Taken together, these results identify a subpopulation of protoplasmic glial cells in the adult CNS and suggest that they arise from a restricted VZ region during CNS development. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.