Gene expression of oligodendrocyte markers in human amniotic epithelial cells using neural cell-type-specific expression system.

We have previously reported that human amniotic epithelial (HAE) cells expressed neuronal and glial cell markers using immunostaining and western blotting. To study the expression system of these cell markers in HAE cells, we investigated the expression of mRNA for oligodendrocyte markers in HAE cells by reverse-transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and northern blotting. Neural cell-specific expression system was used to examine the transcriptional activity of myelin basic protein (MBP). Oligodendrocyte markers were expressed such as CNPase, MBP and proteolipid protein (PLP and DM-20). PLP gene transcripts in the cells were in a lower level than DM-20, compared with those of human brain. Neural cell-type-specific expression system disclosed HAE cells were about 20% positive for beta-Gal using AdexMBP-NL-LacZ. This strongly indicates that HAE cells have MBP-specific gene expressing cells.