Zhu Shunqin, Liu Wanhong, Ding Han-Fei, Cui Hongjuan, Yang Liqun
School of Life Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, P.R. China.
State Key Laboratory of Silkworm Genome Biology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, P.R. China.
Exp Ther Med. 2019 May;17(5):3883-3890. doi: 10.3892/etm.2019.7439. Epub 2019 Mar 26.
The neural crest is a transient embryonic tissue that initially generates neural crest stem cells, which then migrate throughout the body to give rise to a variety of mature tissues. It was proposed that the fate of neural crest cells is gradually determined via environmental cues from the surrounding tissues. In the present study, neural crest cells were isolated and identified from mouse embryos. Bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) and Neuregulin (NRG) were employed to induce the differentiation of neural crest cells. Treatment with BMP4 revealed neuron-associated differentiation; cells treated with NRG exhibited differentiation into the Schwann cell lineage, a type of glia. Soft agar clonogenic and neurosphere formation assays were conducted to investigate the effects of N-Myc (MYCN) overexpression in neural crest cells; the number of colonies and neurospheres notably increased after 14 days. These findings demonstrated that the direction of cell differentiation may be affected by altering the factors present in the surrounding environment. In addition, MYCN may serve a key role in regulating neural crest cell differentiation.
神经嵴是一种短暂存在的胚胎组织，最初产生神经嵴干细胞，这些干细胞随后迁移至全身，发育为多种成熟组织。有人提出，神经嵴细胞的命运是通过周围组织的环境信号逐渐决定的。在本研究中，从小鼠胚胎中分离并鉴定出神经嵴细胞。使用骨形态发生蛋白4（BMP4）和神经调节蛋白（NRG）诱导神经嵴细胞分化。用BMP4处理显示出与神经元相关的分化；用NRG处理的细胞表现出分化为施万细胞谱系，这是一种神经胶质细胞。进行软琼脂克隆形成和神经球形成试验，以研究N-Myc（MYCN）在神经嵴细胞中过表达的影响；14天后，集落和神经球的数量显著增加。这些发现表明，细胞分化的方向可能会受到周围环境中存在的因素变化的影响。此外，MYCN可能在调节神经嵴细胞分化中起关键作用。
