The analysis and comparison between glia maturation factor beta and gamma mRNA and protein expression in rat brain and cells

Glia maturation factor, a 17-kDa protein made up of 142 amino acid residues, mainly includes glia maturation factor-β (GMFB) and glia maturation factor-γ (GMFG). GMFB plays an important role in the growth and differentiation in neuron as well as glia. GMFG, a novel member of the glia maturation factor gene family, locates in the blood and immune system retaining proliferative and differentiated potential. But to date, the distribution of expression and overall function of GMFG in brain remains elusive. For the first time, we proved the existence of GMFG in the central nervous system in the level of gene, protein and cell by Real-time PCR, Western blotting and Immunofluorescence. In astrocytes, GMFB expressed in all cells and mainly located in cell nucleus, while GMFG only expressed in a part of astrocytes and located in cell nucleus and cytoplasm presenting stellated. In neuron, GMFB located in the whole cell and it is very obviously in axon and dendritic, but the expression of GMFG in neurons is weak and couldn’t be detected in axon and dendritic. In addition, we found their tissue region-response distribution and age-response expression in rat brain. In conclusion, we provided a comprehensive analysis that GMFG was expressed in brain and compared the cell/tissue distribution and expression of GMEB and GMFG.