Motohashi Tsutomu, Nishioka Masahiro, Kitagawa Daisuke, Kawamura Norito, Watanabe Natsuki, Wakaoka Takanori, Kadoya Toshihiko, Kunisada Takahiro
Department of Tissue and Organ Development, Regeneration and Advanced Medical Science, Gifu University Graduate School of Medicine, Gifu, Japan.
Int J Dev Biol. 2017;61(6-7):407-413. doi: 10.1387/ijdb.160380tm.
Neural crest (NC) cells are multipotent cells that emerge from the dorsal region of the neural tube. After delaminating from the neural tube, NC cells migrate throughout the developing embryo and differentiate into various cells: neurons and glial cells of the peripheral nervous system, melanocytes of skin, and skeletal elements of the face and head. We previously analyzed the gene expression profile of a NC subpopulation isolated from Sox10-IRES-Venus mice and found that the carbohydrate-binding protein, Galectin-1 (Gal-1) was strongly expressed in generating NC cells. In the present study, we identified GAL-1 as a factor that promotes NC cell generation. Gal-1 was significantly expressed in NC cells generated in explanted neural tubes. The presence of GAL-1 enhanced the generation of NC-like cells from mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells. In the differentiation of ES cells into NC-like cells, GAL-1 enhanced neurogenesis in the early stages and facilitated NC-like cell generation in the later stages. GAL-1 also enhanced the generation of NC cells from explanted neural tubes. These results suggest that GAL-1 plays a facilitative role in NC cell generation.
神经嵴（NC）细胞是源自神经管背侧区域的多能细胞。从神经管脱离后，NC细胞在整个发育中的胚胎中迁移并分化为各种细胞：外周神经系统的神经元和神经胶质细胞、皮肤的黑素细胞以及面部和头部的骨骼成分。我们之前分析了从Sox10-IRES-维纳斯小鼠中分离出的一个NC亚群的基因表达谱，发现碳水化合物结合蛋白半乳糖凝集素-1（Gal-1）在产生NC细胞中强烈表达。在本研究中，我们确定GAL-1是促进NC细胞生成的一个因子。GAL-1在外植神经管中产生的NC细胞中显著表达。GAL-1的存在增强了从小鼠胚胎干细胞（ES细胞）生成NC样细胞的能力。在ES细胞分化为NC样细胞的过程中，GAL-1在早期增强了神经发生，并在后期促进了NC样细胞的生成。GAL-1还增强了外植神经管中NC细胞的生成。这些结果表明GAL-1在NC细胞生成中起促进作用。
