Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, and Center for Biosciences, Karolinska Institutet, Hälsovägen 7, Novum, SE 141 83 Huddinge, Sweden.
Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2011 Mar 11;406(2):188-93. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2011.02.003. Epub 2011 Feb 3.
The nervous system is composed of cells including neurons and glia. It has been believed that the former cells play central roles in various neural functions while the latter ones have only supportive functions for neurons. However, recent findings suggest that glial cells actively participate in neural activities, and the cooperation between neurons and glia is important for nervous system functions. In Caenorhabditis elegans, amphid sensory organs in the head also consist of sensory neurons and glia-like support cells (amphid socket and amphid sheath cells). Ciliary endings of some sensory neurons exposed to the environment detect various chemicals, molecules and signals, and the cilia of some neurons can also take up fluorescent dyes such as DiI. Here, we show that the amphid sheath glia are also stained with DiI and that its uptake by the amphid sheath cells correlates with DiI-filling of sensory neurons, suggesting that the amphid sheath glia might interact with sensory neurons. Furthermore, the localization of the amphid sheath cell reporter F52E1.2SP::YFP is abnormal in che-2 mutants, which have defective cilia. These findings imply that sensory neurons might affect amphid sheath glia functions in the amphid sensory organ of C. elegans.
神经系统由包括神经元和神经胶质细胞在内的细胞组成。人们一直认为前者在各种神经功能中起着核心作用,而后者仅对神经元起支持作用。然而,最近的发现表明,神经胶质细胞积极参与神经活动,神经元和神经胶质细胞之间的合作对于神经系统功能很重要。在秀丽隐杆线虫中,头部的触角感觉器官也由感觉神经元和类神经胶质的支持细胞(触角插座和触角鞘细胞)组成。一些暴露于环境中的感觉神经元的纤毛末端可以检测到各种化学物质、分子和信号,并且一些神经元的纤毛也可以摄取荧光染料如 DiI。在这里,我们发现触角鞘神经胶质细胞也被 DiI 染色,并且其被触角鞘细胞摄取与感觉神经元的 DiI 填充相关,表明触角鞘神经胶质细胞可能与感觉神经元相互作用。此外,在 che-2 突变体中,触角鞘细胞报告基因 F52E1.2SP::YFP 的定位异常,而 che-2 突变体的纤毛有缺陷。这些发现表明,感觉神经元可能影响秀丽隐杆线虫触角感觉器官中触角鞘神经胶质细胞的功能。