Laboratório de Biologia Celular e Molecular da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade do Porto and Instituto de Biologia Molecular e Celular, Universidade do Porto, Portugal.
Dev Dyn. 2010 Jun;239(6):1684-94. doi: 10.1002/dvdy.22305.
Perception of noxious events relies on activation of complex central neuronal circuits. The spinal cord dorsal horn plays a pivotal role in the process relaying to the brain various types of somatosensory input. These functions are accomplished by distinct sensory neurons specifically organized in different laminae. They differentiate during development in a spatial-temporal order due to the expression of combinatorial sets of homeodomain transcription factors. Here we demonstrate that the differential expression of the homeodomain transcription factors Prrxl1 (DRG11), Tlx3, and Lmx1b defines various subpopulations of spinal cord dorsal horn glutamatergic early born and late born neurons. Accordingly, in the superficial dorsal horn of Prrxl1(-/-) mice, the number of glutamatergic neurons is reduced by 70%, while the number of Golgi-impregnated and noxious-induced Fos immunoreactive neurons is reduced by 85%. These results suggest a crucial role for Prrxl1 in the generation of various subpopulations of nociceptive glutamatergic superficial dorsal horn neurons.
有害事件的感知依赖于复杂的中枢神经元回路的激活。脊髓背角在将各种类型的躯体感觉输入传递到大脑的过程中起着关键作用。这些功能是通过特定地组织在不同层中的不同感觉神经元来完成的。由于组合式同源域转录因子的表达，它们在发育过程中以时空顺序进行分化。在这里，我们证明了同源域转录因子 Prrxl1（DRG11）、Tlx3 和 Lmx1b 的差异表达定义了脊髓背角谷氨酸能早期和晚期出生神经元的各种亚群。因此，在 Prrxl1（-/-）小鼠的浅层背角中，谷氨酸能神经元的数量减少了 70%，而高尔基浸渍和伤害性诱导的 Fos 免疫反应性神经元的数量减少了 85%。这些结果表明 Prrxl1 在产生各种伤害性谷氨酸能浅层背角神经元亚群中起着至关重要的作用。
