Cells from central nervous system with morphology similar to radial glia and properties intermediate between astrocytes and Schwann cells were called growth-promoting glia or aldynoglia. These cells are present in adult brain olfactory bulb, hypothalamus, hypophysis, pineal gland and in the developing brain, and spinal cord (Cameron and Rakic (1991) Glia 4:124-137; Gudiño-Cabrera and Nieto-Sampedro (2000) 30:49-63). We report now that neurosphere cells, abundantly generated from E15 rat or E13 mouse corpus striatum, differentiate to aldynoglia-like cells when plated onto an adhesive substrate, and cultured in the presence of olfactory ensheathing cell conditioned medium, supplemented with EGF and bFGF. The immunophenotype, mRNA expression (microarray and RT-PCR analysis), neurite growth-promoting and ensheathing properties of the cells derived from neurospheres were similar to those of aldynoglia. Neurosphere-derived, aldynoglia-like cells expressed, with respect to neurospheres, very increased levels of GFAP, high levels of nestin and vimentin, extracellular matrix proteins, and inhibitors of the catabolism of those extracellular matrix proteins.
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