PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Kinichi Nakashima
AU  - Stefan Wiese
AU  - Makoto Yanagisawa
AU  - Hirokazu Arakawa
AU  - Naoki Kimura
AU  - Tatsuhiro Hisatsune
AU  - Kanji Yoshida
AU  - Tadamitsu Kishimoto
AU  - Michael Sendtner
AU  - Tetsuya Taga
TI  - Developmental Requirement of gp130 Signaling in Neuronal Survival and Astrocyte Differentiation
AID  - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.19-13-05429.1999
DP  - 1999 Jul 01
TA  - The Journal of Neuroscience
PG  - 5429--5434
VI  - 19
IP  - 13
4099  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/19/13/5429.short
4100  - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/19/13/5429.full
SO  - J. Neurosci.1999 Jul 01; 19
AB  - gp130 is a signal-transducing receptor component used in common by the interleukin-6 (IL-6) family of hematopoietic and neurotrophic cytokines, including IL-6, IL-11, leukemia-inhibitory factor, ciliary neurotrophic factor, oncostatin-M, and cardiotrophin-1. We have examined in this study a role of gp130 in the nervous system by analyzing developmental cell death of several neuronal populations and the differentiation of astrocytes in gp130-deficient mice. A significant reduction was observed in the number of sensory neurons in L5 dorsal root ganglia and motoneurons in the facial nucleus, the nucleus ambiguus, and the lumbar spinal cord in gp130 −/− mice on embryonic day 18.5. On the other hand, no significant neuronal loss was detectable on day 14.5, suggesting a physiological role of gp130 in supporting newly generated neurons during the late phase of development when naturally occurring cell death takes place. Moreover, expression of an astrocyte marker, GFAP, was severely reduced in the brain of gp130 −/− mice. Our data demonstrate that gp130 expression is essential for survival of subgroups of differentiated motor and sensory neurons and for the differentiation of major populations of astrocytesin vivo.