PhD Program in Translational Medicine, Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Academia Sinica, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Emergency, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Elife. 2019 Nov 18;8:e50848. doi: 10.7554/eLife.50848.
Two crucial questions in neuroscience are how neurons establish individual identity in the developing nervous system and why only specific neuron subtypes are vulnerable to neurodegenerative diseases. In the central nervous system, spinal motor neurons serve as one of the best-characterized cell types for addressing these two questions. In this review, we dissect these questions by evaluating the emerging role of regulatory microRNAs in motor neuron generation in developing embryos and their potential contributions to neurodegenerative diseases such as spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Given recent promising results from novel microRNA-based medicines, we discuss the potential applications of microRNAs for clinical assessments of SMA disease progression and treatment.
神经科学中有两个关键问题，一是神经元在发育中的神经系统中如何建立个体身份，二是为什么只有特定的神经元亚型容易受到神经退行性疾病的影响。在中枢神经系统中，脊髓运动神经元是解决这两个问题的最佳特征之一。在这篇综述中，我们通过评估调控 microRNAs 在胚胎发育中运动神经元生成中的作用来剖析这些问题，并探讨它们对脊髓性肌萎缩症（SMA）等神经退行性疾病的潜在贡献。鉴于新型基于 microRNA 的药物的最近令人鼓舞的结果，我们讨论了 microRNAs 在 SMA 疾病进展和治疗的临床评估中的潜在应用。
