An oligodendroglial progenitor cell line FBD-102b possibly secretes a radial glia-inducing factor

Interactions between oligodendroglial and astroglial lineages during development are still unclear. In this study, FBD-102b, derived from p53−/− fetal brains, was characterized as an oligodendroglial progenitor cell (OPC) line. In co-culture with 102b cells, cells of an astrocyte progenitor cell line, FBD-104, elongated monopolar processes, like radial glia, and actively proliferated. Conditioned medium of 102b cells also induced the process elongation that was associated with down-regulation of GFAP and up-regulation of vimentin and nestin. These results suggested that OPCs secrete a radial glia-inducing factor that might maintain the radial glial processes to use as scaffolds of migration.