| First Author | Mamber C | Year | 2012 |
| Journal | PLoS One | Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 12 | Pages | e52659 |
| PubMed ID | 23285135 | Mgi Jnum | J:195751 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5485135 | Doi | 10.1371/journal.pone.0052659 |
| Citation | Mamber C, et al. (2012) GFAPdelta expression in glia of the developmental and adolescent mouse brain. PLoS One 7(12):e52659 |
| abstractText | Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is the major intermediate filament (IF) protein in astrocytes. In the human brain, GFAP isoforms have unique expression patterns, which indicate that they play distinct functional roles. One isoform, GFAPdelta, is expressed by proliferative radial glia in the developing human brain. In the adult human, GFAPdelta is a marker for neural stem cells. However, it is unknown whether GFAPdelta marks the same population of radial glia and astrocytes in the developing mouse brain as it does in the developing human brain. This study characterizes the expression pattern of GFAPdelta throughout mouse embryogenesis and into adolescence. Gfapdelta transcripts are expressed from E12, but immunohistochemistry shows GFAPdelta staining only from E18. This finding suggests a translational uncoupling. GFAPdelta expression increases from E18 to P5 and then decreases until its expression plateaus around P25. During development, GFAPdelta is expressed by radial glia, as denoted by the co-expression of markers like vimentin and nestin. GFAPdelta is also expressed in other astrocytic populations during development. A similar pattern is observed in the adolescent mouse, where GFAPdelta marks both neural stem cells and mature astrocytes. Interestingly, the Gfapdelta/Gfapalpha transcript ratio remains stable throughout development as well as in primary astrocyte and neurosphere cultures. These data suggest that all astroglia cells in the developing and adolescent mouse brain express GFAPdelta, regardless of their neurogenic capabilities. GFAPdelta may be an integral component of all mouse astrocytes, but it is not a specific neural stem cell marker in mice as it is in humans. |
