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Abstract
The present study describes the generation and the characterization of a stable cell line of neural stem cells derived from embryonic mouse hypothalamus. These cells (AC1) grow as an adherent culture in defined serum-free medium and express typical markers of neurogenic radial glia and of hypothalamic precursors. After prolonged expansion, AC1 cells may be efficiently induced to differentiate into neurons and astroglial cells in vitro and start to express some hormonal neuropeptides, like TRH, CRH, and POMC. Based on the capabilities of AC1 cells to be stably expanded and to develop neuroendocrine lineages in vitro, these cells might represent a novel tool to elucidate the mechanisms involved in the development of the hypothalamus and in the specific differentiation of neuroendocrine neurons.
Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest
No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by Italian “Ministero della Salute” (GR-2008-1137632 to A.C. and GR-2008-1146615 to L.C.) and MIUR (PRIN 2005: 2005051740_001 to L.C. and PRIN2003 2003060512_001 and FIRST2007 to R.M.).
The authors thank Daria Messelodi, Dr Roberta Noseda, and Dr Elio Messi for their technical support, and Dr Francesca Mackenzie for reading the manuscript.
The authors declare that they have no significant competing financial interests that might have influenced the work described in this manuscript.