Laboratory of Genetics, The Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, United States.
Department of Anthropology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, United States.
Elife. 2019 Feb 7;8:e37527. doi: 10.7554/eLife.37527.
Comparative analyses of neuronal phenotypes in closely related species can shed light on neuronal changes occurring during evolution. The study of post-mortem brains of nonhuman primates (NHPs) has been limited and often does not recapitulate important species-specific developmental hallmarks. We utilize induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology to investigate the development of cortical pyramidal neurons following migration and maturation of cells grafted in the developing mouse cortex. Our results show differential migration patterns in human neural progenitor cells compared to those of chimpanzees and bonobos both in vitro and in vivo, suggesting heterochronic changes in human neurons. The strategy proposed here lays the groundwork for further comparative analyses between humans and NHPs and opens new avenues for understanding the differences in the neural underpinnings of cognition and neurological disease susceptibility between species.
对密切相关物种的神经元表型进行比较分析，可以揭示进化过程中神经元发生的变化。对非人类灵长类动物（NHPs）死后大脑的研究受到限制，并且往往不能重现重要的物种特异性发育特征。我们利用诱导多能干细胞（iPSC）技术研究了在发育中的小鼠皮层中移植细胞的迁移和成熟后，皮层锥体神经元的发育情况。我们的结果表明，与黑猩猩和倭黑猩猩相比，人类神经祖细胞在体外和体内的迁移模式存在差异，这表明人类神经元存在异时性变化。这里提出的策略为在人类和 NHPs 之间进行进一步的比较分析奠定了基础，并为理解物种间认知和神经疾病易感性的神经基础差异开辟了新途径。
