(117f) Extracellular Matrix Protein and Astrocyte Derived Soluble Factors Synergistically Affect Neural Progenitor Cells

To control the differentiation of neural progenitor cells (NPCs), the influence of topography, extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and soluble factors were investigated. Previously, in our laboratory, astrocyte-derived soluble factors promoted the differentiation of adult hippocampal progenitor cells (AHPCs) into neurons when grown on a laminin substrate (Oh et al. 2008). Here we determined that the ECM protein on which AHPCs are cultured, does not seem to alter this neurogenic effect or the differentiation of AHPCs when grown alone. However, AHPCs cultured on ECL (a combination of entactin, collagen and laminin) in the presence of soluble factors from hippocampal astrocytes, differentiated into a significantly greater percentage of oligodendrocytes (~34% on ECL vs. ~19% on laminin). Furthermore, a concomitant decrease in the percentage of proliferating cells was observed on the ECL (~38% on ECL vs. ~55% on laminin). Additionally, the increase in AHPC differentiation into oligodendrocytes on ECL, only occured in the presence of soluble factors from astrocytes, not when AHPCs are cultured alone. Finally, we demonstrate that micro-scale topography does not influence the phenotypic differentiation in all conditions tested. These results show that a combination of astrocyte-derived soluble factors and ECM can dramatically affect the differentiation and proliferation of NPCs.