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Fig. 2. Precocious astroglial differentiation in methylation-deficient E11.5 and
E15.5 mouse CNS cultures. (A) Wild-type E11.5 mouse cortical precursor cells
from Balb/c wild-type mice were dissociated and cultured for 2 days (2 d), 4
days (4 d) and 7 days (7 d) in the absence (con) and presence of LIF (50
ng/ml). Cells were stained with antibodies against a neuronal marker MAP2
(green) and GFAP (red). (B) E11.5 CNS cells from control (con) and
Dnmt1/ (mut) littermate embryos were
cultured with or without LIF treatment for 2 days, and stained for GFAP (red)
and a neural progenitor marker, nestin (green). Co-localization of nestin and
GFAP (orange) in newly differentiated astrocytes in
Dnmt1/mutant cultures (mut-LIF) indicates
precocious astrocyte differentiation. (C) Western blot analysis of GFAP
protein in two pairs of 3-day-old E11.5 NPC cultures. ß-actin serves as a
sample loading control. (D) S100ß staining (red) of E11.5 CNS cells that
were cultured for 4 days with LIF treatment in the last 2 days. DAPI nuclear
counterstaining (blue) indicates similar cell densities between control (con)
and Dnmt1/ (mut) cultures. (E)
5'-methylcytosine (5'meC) antibody staining (red) of 3-day-old
E11.5 control (con) and Dnmt1/ (mut) NPCs.
Counterstaining with DAPI (blue). The nuclear staining pattern is distinct,
with heterochromatic punctuates intensely positive for 5'meC. (F) NPCs
were infected with a GFP-expressing retrovirus on the first day of culturing.
Two- to 3 days later, the virally infected GFP cells were stained for GFAP or
MAP2, and the percentage of cells differentiating into either neurons or glia
was measured and plotted (n=4). (G) Four-day cultured E15.5 cortical
cells from control (littermate) and Dnmt1/
mice in the presence and absence of LIF, were triple labeled with MAP2
(green), GFAP (red) and DAPI (blue). Scale bar: 32 µm.