Subpopulation of nestin-expressing progenitor cells in the adult murine hippocampus shows electrophysiological and morphological characteristics of astrocytes.
Filippov, Vitali a,1; Kronenberg, Golo a,b,1; Pivneva, Tatjyana a,c; Reuter, Katja a; Steiner, Barbara a; Wang, Li-Ping a; Yamaguchi, Masahiro d; Kettenmann, Helmut a; Kempermann, Gerd a,e,*
[Article] Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience. 23(3):373-382, July 2003.

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: 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 S100[beta], 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.

(C) 2003Elsevier, Inc.