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N-acetylcysteine enhances neuronal differentiation of P19 embryonic stem cells via Akt and N-cadherin activation

  • Molecular Biology of the Cell
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Abstract

We examined whether N-acetylcysteine (NAC) enhanced embryonic body (EB) formation and neuronal differentiation in terms of EB formation, neuronal marker (microtubule-associated protein 2; MAP-2) expression, and neuron maturation using P19 embryonic stem cells. The size and numbers of EBs were greatly increased, together with the up-regulated N-cadherin expression. Also, MAP-2 expression and neurite outgrowth were much increased with activation of serine/threonine protein kinase (Akt) and blocked by addition of an Akt inhibitor (LY294002). Our results suggested that NAC increased EB formation by up-regulating the N-cadherin expression. Furthermore, NAC-enhanced neuronal differentiation was mediated by activation of Akt.

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Abbreviations

EB:

embryonic body

ESCs:

embryonic stem cells

MAP-2:

microtubule-associated protein 2

NAC:

N-acetylcysteine

p-Akt:

phospho-Akt

p-ERK1/2:

phospho-extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2

p-JNK:

phospho-c-Jun amino-terminal kinase

RA:

retinoic acid

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, College of Medicine, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, 156-756, Korea

    Y. -H. Noh, D. -H. Kim, O. H. Kim, J. Park, S. -A. Lee, D. Kim, Y. H. Chung, K. Y. Kim, S. S. Kim & W. B. Lee

  2. Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, College of Medicine, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, 156-756, Korea

    H. -S. Cho & H. -S. Yang

  3. Department of Thoracic Surgery, College of Medicine, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, 156-756, Korea

    D. -S. Sohn

  4. Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, 156-756, Korea

    W. Kim

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  1. Y. -H. Noh
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  13. S. S. Kim
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  14. W. B. Lee
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Y. -H. Noh.

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The article is published in the original.

Y.-H. Noh and H.-S. Cho contributed equally to this work.

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Noh, Y.H., Cho, H.S., Kim, D.H. et al. N-acetylcysteine enhances neuronal differentiation of P19 embryonic stem cells via Akt and N-cadherin activation. Mol Biol 46, 664–669 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0026893312040085

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0026893312040085

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