2018年4月25日/生物谷BIOON/---在一项新的研究中,来自日本几家研究机构的研究人员在哺乳动物中发现发育中的新皮质神经元经历从多极形态到双极形态的形态转变,而且这种形态转变至少部分是由于大脑发育期间的神经元迁移信号传递。相关研究结果发表在2018年4月20日的Science期刊上,论文标题为“Synaptic transmission from subplate neurons controls radial migration of neocortical neurons”。Alejandro F. Schinder和Guillermo M. Lanuza针对这项研究在同期Science期刊上发表了一篇标题为“Whispering neurons fuel cortical highways”的评论类型论文。
Neurogenic radial glia in the outer subventricular zone of human neocortex
David V. Hansen1,2,5, Jan H. Lui1,2,3,5, Philip R. L. Parker1,2,4 & Arnold R. Kriegstein1,2
1Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research,
2Department of Neurology,
3Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program,
4Neuroscience Graduate Program, University of California San Francisco, 513 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, California 94143, USA
Neurons in the developing rodent cortex are generated from radial glial cells that function as neural stem cells. These epithelial cells line the cerebral ventricles and generate intermediate progenitor cells that migrate into the subventricular zone (SVZ) and proliferate to increase neuronal number. The developing human SVZ has a massively expanded outer region (OSVZ) thought to contribute to cortical size and complexity. However, OSVZ progenitor cell types and their contribution to neurogenesis are not well understood. Here we show that large numbers of radial glia-like cells and intermediate progenitor cells populate the human OSVZ. We find that OSVZ radial glia-like cells have a long basal process but, surprisingly, are non-epithelial as they lack contact with the ventricular surface. Using real-time imaging and clonal analysis, we demonstrate that these cells can undergo proliferative divisions and self-renewing asymmetric divisions to generate neuronal progenitor cells that can proliferate further. We also show that inhibition of Notch signalling in OSVZ progenitor cells induces their neuronal differentiation. The establishment of non-ventricular radial glia-like cells may have been a critical evolutionary advance underlying increased cortical size and complexity in the human brain.