Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Tongji University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200092, China.
Cereb Cortex. 2012 Jul;22(7):1510-9. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhr215. Epub 2011 Sep 1.
Self-avoidance is a mechanism by which dendrites from the same neuron repel one another in order to establish uniform coverage of the dendritic field. The importance of self-avoidance for the development of complex arborization patterns has been highlighted by studies of Drosophila sensory and mouse retinal neurons. However, it is unclear whether branch patterning in the mammalian central nervous system is also governed by this strategy. We reduced Satb2 expression in a population of layer II/III pyramidal neurons in vivo by RNA interference and found that the somas of Satb2-deficient neurons clumped together, and their dendrites failed to expand laterally but instead formed fascicles. Furthermore, experiments showed that reducing Satb2 caused the adhesion of not only neighboring Satb2-deficient neurons but also neighboring wild-type neurons. Our results indicate a cell autonomous and non-cell autonomous role for Satb2 in regulating the adhesive and/or repulsive properties of cerebral pyramidal neurons.
自我回避是一种机制，通过这种机制，来自同一神经元的树突彼此排斥，以建立树突场的均匀覆盖。果蝇感觉神经元和小鼠视网膜神经元的研究强调了自我回避对于复杂分支模式发育的重要性。然而，目前尚不清楚哺乳动物中枢神经系统中的分支模式是否也受此策略的控制。我们通过 RNA 干扰在体内减少了一群 II/III 层锥体神经元中的 Satb2 表达，发现 Satb2 缺失神经元的体聚集在一起，它们的树突不能横向扩展，而是形成束。此外，实验表明，减少 Satb2 不仅导致相邻 Satb2 缺失神经元的黏附，也导致相邻野生型神经元的黏附。我们的结果表明 Satb2 在调节大脑锥体神经元的黏附性和/或排斥性方面具有细胞自主和非细胞自主的作用。
