Concerted and predictable acquisition of glial fibrillary acidic protein filaments by a cohort of astroblasts in culture

Primary cultures of the 21 day foetal rat brain contain a cohort of astroblasts that concertedly acquire glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) filaments between the 16th and 18th hour after plating. This burst of cytoskeletal differentiation is not observed in cultures initiated from the 18 day foetal brain and is not effected by the addition of cytosine arabinoside, an inhibitor of glial cell proliferation.