TY - JOUR
T1 - Emerging mechanisms underlying astrogenesis in the developing mammalian brain
AU - Takouda, Jun
AU - Katada, Sayako
AU - Nakashima, Kinichi
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank all of the members of the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Medicine, Kyushu University, for valuable comments, and Elizabeth Nakajima for critical reading of this manuscript. This work was supported by grants from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (AMEDCREST), JSPS KAKENHI (15K14452) and MEXT KAKENHI (16H06527) to K. N.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Japan Academy.
PY - 2017
Y1 - 2017
N2 - In the developing brain, the three major cell types, i.e., neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, are generated from common multipotent neural stem cells (NSCs). In particular, astrocytes eventually occupy a great fraction of the brain and play pivotal roles in the brain development and functions. However, NSCs cannot produce the three major cell types simultaneously from the beginning; e.g., it is known that neurogenesis precedes astrogenesis during brain development. How is this fate switching achieved? Many studies have revealed that extracellular cues and intracellular programs are involved in the transition of NSC fate specification. The former include growth factor- and cytokine-signaling, and the latter involve epigenetic machinery, including DNA methylation, histone modifications, and non-coding RNAs. Accumulating evidence has identified a complex array of epigenetic modifications that control the timing of astrocytic differentiation of NSCs. In this review, we introduce recent progress in identifying the molecular mechanisms of astrogenesis underlying the tight regulation of neuronal-astrocytic fate switching of NSCs.
AB - In the developing brain, the three major cell types, i.e., neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, are generated from common multipotent neural stem cells (NSCs). In particular, astrocytes eventually occupy a great fraction of the brain and play pivotal roles in the brain development and functions. However, NSCs cannot produce the three major cell types simultaneously from the beginning; e.g., it is known that neurogenesis precedes astrogenesis during brain development. How is this fate switching achieved? Many studies have revealed that extracellular cues and intracellular programs are involved in the transition of NSC fate specification. The former include growth factor- and cytokine-signaling, and the latter involve epigenetic machinery, including DNA methylation, histone modifications, and non-coding RNAs. Accumulating evidence has identified a complex array of epigenetic modifications that control the timing of astrocytic differentiation of NSCs. In this review, we introduce recent progress in identifying the molecular mechanisms of astrogenesis underlying the tight regulation of neuronal-astrocytic fate switching of NSCs.
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U2 - 10.2183/pjab.93.024
DO - 10.2183/pjab.93.024
M3 - Review article
C2 - 28603210
AN - SCOPUS:85021157269
VL - 93
SP - 386
EP - 398
JO - Proceedings of the Japan Academy Series B: Physical and Biological Sciences
JF - Proceedings of the Japan Academy Series B: Physical and Biological Sciences
SN - 0386-2208
IS - 6
ER -