Induction of Cholinergic Phenotype in Mouse Neuroblastoma Cells Using Nerve Growth Factor

Abstract

Nerve growth factor (NGF) is a key factor of neuronal differentiation. NGF plays an important role in growth and differentiation of sensory and sympathetic neurons in the peripheral nervous system. In the mature brain, NGF is important for the maintenance of a cholinergic neuronal phenotype. Here, we studied whether NGF is sufficient to induce cholinergic phenotype in murine neuroblastoma cells, which are often used to model various physiological and pathological conditions. We detected expression of both TrkA and p75NGFR of NGF receptors in NB41A3 and Neuro2a neuroblastoma cells, two the most popular cell lines widely used to study the properties of cholinergic neurons in vitro. Treatment of both types of cell cultures with NGF did not induce in contrast to 8-Br-cAMP, which induced differentiation of Neuro2a cells with formation neuron-like morphology. Furthermore, we did not reveal the markers of cholinergic phenotype, such as ChAT or VAChT mRNA or protein in these cells, after NGF treatment. Thus, NB41A3 and Neuro2a cells cannot be used as an in vitro model of cholinergic cells because they do not differentiate and/or exhibit cholinergic phenotype in response to NGF stimulation.