Subpopulation of nestin-expressing progenitor cells in the adult murine hippocampus shows electrophysiological and morphological characteristics of astrocytes

Item Type:	Article
Title:	Subpopulation of nestin-expressing progenitor cells in the adult murine hippocampus shows electrophysiological and morphological characteristics of astrocytes
Creators Name:	Filippov, V. and Kronenberg, G. and Pivneva, T. and Reuter, K. and Steiner, B. and Wang, L.P. and Yamaguchi, M. and Kettenmann, H. and Kempermann, G.
Abstract:	Based on the expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), a recent hypothesis considered stem or progenitor cells in the adult hippocampus to be a type of astrocyte. In a complementary approach, we used transgenic mice expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) under the promoter for nestin, an intermediate filament present in progenitor cells, to demonstrate astrocytic features in nestin-GFP-positive cells. Morphologically, two subpopulations of nestin-GFP-positive cells were distinguishable; one had an elaborate tree of processes in the granule cell layer and expression of GFAP (but not of S100beta, another astrocytic marker). Electron microscopy revealed vascular end feet of nestin-positive cells, further supporting astrocytic differentiation. Electrophysiological examination of nestin-GFP-positive cells on acutely isolated hippocampal slices showed passive current characteristics of astrocytes in one subset of cells. Among the nestin-GFP-expressing cells with lacking astrocytic features, two cell types could be identified electrophysiologically: cells with delayed-rectifying potassium currents and a very small number of cells with sodium currents, potentially representing signs of the earliest steps of neuronal differentiation.
Keywords:	Age Factors, Astrocytes, Capillaries, Dentate Gyrus, Fluorescent Dyes, Green Fluorescent Proteins, Intermediate Filament Proteins, Isoquinolines, Luminescent Proteins, Membrane Potentials, Immunoelectron Microscopy, Nerve Tissue Proteins, Potassium Channels, Genetic Promoter Regions, Stem Cells, Animals, Mice
Source:	Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience
ISSN:	1044-7431
Publisher:	Academic Press
Volume:	23
Number:	3
Page Range:	373-382
Date:	July 2003
Official Publication:	https://doi.org/10.1016/S1044-7431(03)00060-5
PubMed:	View item in PubMed

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