Astrocytes Reporter

GFAP Promoter: The glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is exclusively expressed in astrocytes, upregulated in response to almost any damage to the central nervous system (CNS). Astrocytes are considered as key players in brain information processing and are the  most abundant cell types in the vertebrate CNS. The 2.2kb GFAP promoter is used to direct astrocyte-specific expression. Such targeted modulation of protein expression in astrocytes is critical for the development of new therapeutic strategies.

GenTarget developed a set of reporting lentivirus for specifically expression in astrocytes. Those reporting lentivirus has a luminescent report or a fluorescent report under the promoter of human GFAP (click to see the sequence). Those reporter lentivirus direct targeted expression in human or mouse astrocytes, which provides a great tool to study astrocytes in situ where their complex morphology and intimate association with neurons remains intact and for the signal pathway research on GFAP gene regulation. 

Those reporter lentivirus also constitutively express a fluorescent selection marker or an antibiotic selection marker under the RSV promoter (Rous Sarcoma Virus Promoter) which is a moderate to strong promoter in most cell types. This selection marker is used to select the lentivirus infected cells (to generate the stable cell lines) via antibiotic killing or fluorescent cell sorting. It also  provides internal reference for virus transduction efficiency when a fluorescent marker is under the RSV promoter (wherever the RSV promoter is active in assay cell type). See the scheme below for lentivector core expression cassette.

The premade, ready-to-use reporter lentivirus provides in two formats: 200ul in DMEM medium with 10% FBS and 10x polybrene, or 200ul concentrated virus in PBS solution. See each product below, or click to see Product Manual for details (.pdf).