 This study demonstrated that ventral brainstem and rostroventral spinal cord astrocytes derived from mouse embryonic stem cells, ES, are capable of inducing neurotoxic effects in vitro. The authors used cytokines such as Illinois 1-beta and Illinois 6, which are present in the cerebral spinal fluid and serum protome following human severe traumatic brain injury, TBI, to activate the ES astrocytes. They then observed that this activation resulted in increased phosphorylation of C-jun, indicating that the astrocytes had become reactive. Furthermore, they found that the reactive astrocytes caused neurotoxic effects when co-cultured with motor neurons. These findings suggest that astrocytic responses to injury and disease may be region and cell-specific, and that these responses could potentially contribute to the poor prognosis seen in certain areas of the central nervous system after trauma.