Reactive astrocytes express the embryonic intermediate neurofilament nestin

Clarke, Scott R.; Shetty, Ashok K.; Bradley, Jennifer; Turner, Dennis A.

doi:10.1097/00001756-199410000-00011

Cited by 232 publications

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“…Nestin is expressed in the vascular endothelium of a wide variety of tissues during fetal development (23) and is expressed in a subset of cells in the adult animal, including pericytes (33) and astrocytes (34) in the brain, and in stellate cells of the pancreas (5) and liver (35). Nestin expression rises in response to damage in the CNS (23), the liver (35), and the pancreas (36) and is associated with regenerative responses in these tissues.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nestin-Lineage Cells Contribute to the Microvasculature but Not Endocrine Cells of the Islet

et al. 2003

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nestin-Lineage Cells Contribute to the Microvasculature but Not Endocrine Cells of the Islet

et al. 2003

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“…Nestin is a class VI intermediate filament originally isolated as a marker for neural stem cells. 13,14 Subsequently, nestin was found to be expressed by immature glial cells, 16 astrocytes in injured central nervous system, 17,18 primitive neuroectodermal tumors and gliomas, 16,19 melanomas, 20 myoblasts, 21 and immature cardiac-and skeletal-muscle cells. 15,22,23 Stellate cells in normal rat liver contain GFAP, [7][8][9][10] an intermediate filament protein characteristic of astrocytes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In spite of the relatively low sequence homology, nestin forms heteropolymers with type III filament proteins. 15 In addition to neural precursor cells, nestin is expressed by immature glial cells, 16 reactive astrocytes, 17,18 primitive neuroectodermal tumors, 16,19 and melanomas. 20 Also, immature cardiac 21 and skeletal muscle cells 15,22,23 express nestin before terminal differentiation.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Class VI intermediate filament protein nestin is induced during activation of rat hepatic stellate cells

Niki¹,

Pekny

Hellemans³

et al. 1999

Hepatology

262

173

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Hepatic stellate cells are considered to be liver-specific pericytes that play a key role in liver fibrosis. Because these cells express desmin and smooth muscle ␣-actin, they were assumed to be of myogenic origin. This hypothesis became doubtful when it was reported that stellate cells also express glial fibrillary acidic protein and neural cell adhesion molecule. In the present study, we show that activated stellate cells express nestin, a class VI intermediate filament protein originally identified as a marker for neural stem cells. Expression of nestin was first studied during spontaneous activation of stellate cells in culture. Immunohistochemistry showed that nestin-positive stellate cells already appeared at day 3, and nearly all the cells became positive for nestin at day 6 and 15. The immunoreaction was present in filaments except in dividing cells. The presence of messenger RNA transcript for nestin was shown by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and sequencing of amplified complementary DNA. We then compared the presence of nestin with that of other intermediate filament proteins and smooth muscle ␣-actin. Immunoblotting showed that the relative concentrations of nestin, desmin, and vimentin increased between day 2 and 6 in primary culture. After the initial increase vimentin leveled off, while nestin and desmin showed a tendency to decrease. This pattern was quite different from that of glial fibrillary acidic protein, which kept declining, and smooth muscle ␣-actin, which increased continuously up to day 13 in culture. We then studied the presence of nestin in normal and CCl 4 -injured rat liver. In normal liver, minimal immunoreaction for nestin was observed within the liver parenchyma. During induction of fibrosis by carbon tetrachloride, nestin-positive stellate cells appeared at 6 weeks, which was late in comparison with the induction of desmin and smooth muscle ␣-actin. We conclude that nestin is induced in stellate cells during transition from the quiescent to the activated phenotype; culture activation is a stronger stimulus than in vivo activation by injection of CCl 4 . Taken Hepatic stellate cells exert specific liver functions: storage of large amounts of retinyl esters, synthesis and breakdown of hepatic extracellular matrix, secretion of a variety of cytokines, and control of the diameter of the sinusoids.

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“…Nestin is expressed in neuroepithelial cells (CNS stem cells) during the development of the CNS (Lendahl et al, 1990). However, this expression is not an exclusive feature of CNS stem cells since neural progenitor cells, differentiating myoblasts, endothelial cells, and reactive astrocytes also express nestin (Clarke et al, 1994;Frisén et al, 1995;Wroblewski et al, 1997;Johansson et al, 1999b). Particularly, this makes it very difficult to identify CNS stem cells in vitro based on the expression of one single marker, which is nestin.…”

Section: Markers For Stem Cells In Cnsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…4) it was demonstrated that these labeled cells, in vitro, under clonal conditions, can generate neurospheres that harbor astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and neurons. They appeared to be CNS stem cells (Clarke et al, 1994;Weiss et al, 1996;Johansson, 2002). But what about the ependymal cells in the brain?…”

Section: The Function Of the Ependyma: A Concealed Reservoir Of Stem mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanism of stem cells in the central nervous system

Johansson

2003

Journal Cellular Physiology

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Injury to the central nervous system (CNS) can result in severe functional impairment. The brain and spinal cord, which constitute the CNS, have been viewed for decades as having a very limited capacity for regeneration. However, over the last several years, the body of evidence supporting the concept of regeneration and continuous renewal of neurons in specific regions of the CNS has increased. This evidence has significantly altered our perception of the CNS and has offered new hope for possible cell therapy strategies to repair lost function. Transplantation of stem cells or the recruitment of endogenous stem cells to repair specific regions of the brain or spinal cord is the next exciting research challenge. However, our understanding of the existing stem cell pool in the adult CNS remains limited. This review will discuss the identification and characterization of CNS stem cells in the adult brain and spinal cord.

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Reactive astrocytes express the embryonic intermediate neurofilament nestin

Cited by 232 publications

References 0 publications

Nestin-Lineage Cells Contribute to the Microvasculature but Not Endocrine Cells of the Islet

Nestin-Lineage Cells Contribute to the Microvasculature but Not Endocrine Cells of the Islet

Class VI intermediate filament protein nestin is induced during activation of rat hepatic stellate cells

Mechanism of stem cells in the central nervous system

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