Inhibition of glial maturation by bone morphogenetic protein 2 in a neural crest-derived cell line

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) regulate developmental decisions in many neural and nonneural lineages. BMPs influence both CNS neuronal and glial development and promote neuronal differentiation in neural crest derivatives. We investigated the actions of BMP2 on glial differentiation in the peripheral nervous system using NCM1 cells, a neural crest-derived cell line with the properties of peripheral glial precursor cells. BMP2 prevented the acquisition of a mature Schwann cell-like morphology, blocking the expression of mature genes and maintaining expression of several early glial markers. We provide evidence that BMP2 activates the GFAP promoter and define signaling pathways underlying this regulation. Our results demonstrate a novel role for BMPs as inhibitors of glial differentiation in the peripheral nervous system and suggest that BMPs may regulate the developmental timing of glial maturation.