Genome wide expression analysis of BMP and LIF induce astrocyte differentiaion of mouse neural stem cells

Astrocytes perform a wide array of physiological functions. Despite the well-known functional and morphological diversity of astrocytes, molecular markers that label sub populations of astrocytes are limited. BMP and LIF are known to generated astrocytes with different morphology and physiological properties. The goal of this study to identify genes that are differentially expressed in BMP and LIF generated astrocytes. We cultured neural stem cells (NSCs) derived from postnatal day 1 mouse brain, during the period of active cortical gliogenesis. NSCs were first transduced with a retrovirus containing green fluorescent protein (GFP) under the control of the mouse GFAP promoter, and then differentiated in the presence of BMP or LIF with noggin, a BMP signaling inhibitor. After 7 days in culture total mRNA from GFP-expressing cells was collected and used for gene expression profiling.