Fig. 3

Defective differentiation of NS-NPCs into neural cells. a Aberrant gliogenesis of NS-neural cells. NS-NPCs were differentiated into neural cells under spontaneous conditions for 21–23 days. NS-neural cells showed a higher proportion of GFAP-positive cells compared with the WT-neural cells. MAP2 positive (red) and GFAP positive (green) represent neuronal and glial cells, respectively. Scale bar, 50 μm. b Increase of CD 44⁺ population in the NS-neural cells. The CD 44⁺ population in the NS-neural cells was analyzed by FACS. The percent of CD 44⁺ population are presented as the mean ± SEM (n = 4). c Reduced neurites of neuronal cells in the NS-neural cells. In neural cells, dendritic and axonal regions were detected by the MAP2 antibody (red) and TAU1 antibody (green), respectively. Lengths of the dendrites (n = 50 cells) and axons (n = 30 cells) were traced and measured using the ImageJ program. These comparisons were analyzed against the results of three independent experiments. Scale bars, 20 μm (MAP2) and 50 μm (TAU1). d Reduced expression of TAU1 and increments of p-CREB in the NS-neural cells. The relative band intensities are presented as the mean ± SEM (n = 4). p values were determined using an unpaired Student’s t test. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. Abbreviation: WT, wild-type; NS, Noonan syndrome