Soft surfaces promote astrocytic differentiation of mouse embryonic neural stem cells via dephosphorylation of MRLC in the absence of serum.

ABSTRACT: Astrocytes, which can be obtained from neural stem cells (NSCs) by adding serum and/or recombinant proteins in culture media or by passaging NSCs repeatedly, are expected to be applicable in regenerative medicine for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. However, astrocytes obtained using existing methods are costly and have poor quality. The stiffness of culture surfaces has been reported to affect astrocytic differentiation of adult NSCs. However, the influence of surface stiffness on astrocytic differentiation of embryonic NSCs has not yet been reported. In this study, we showed that astrocytic differentiation of embryonic NSCs was increased on soft surfaces (1 kPa and 12 kPa) compared with the NSCs on stiff surfaces (2.8 GPa) in serum-free condition. Furthermore, di-phosphorylat

SUBMITTER: Oyama H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8486742 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature