Abstract
Wnt signals have been shown to play an important role in the development of the central nervous system (CNS) of mouse. In our previous work, it was demonstrated that Wnt signal could initiate differentiation of P19 EC cells. In the present inveshgation, it was examined with RT-PCR whether expression of β-catenin, a downstream of Wnt in its signal triduction pathway, is regulated. It was found that the level of protein or transcript β-catenin during P19 neuronal differentiation was not changed. However,immunostaining data showed that β-catenin was translocalized into nuclei after retinoic acid induced P19 cell mggates were trypsinized and cultured in serum free N2 medium for 2 and 4 d. In this period, transcription of En-2, a downstream target gene of Wnt signal, increased evidenily. The ahove data suggest that Wnt signals are involved in the early stage of neuronal differentiation process of P19 cell.
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