Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200032, China.
Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.
Neurosci Bull. 2024 Jan;40(1):1-16. doi: 10.1007/s12264-023-01131-9. Epub 2023 Oct 16.
Astrocytes are the largest glial population in the mammalian brain. However, we have a minimal understanding of astrocyte development, especially fate specification in different regions of the brain. Through lineage tracing of the progenitors of the third ventricle (3V) wall via in-utero electroporation in the embryonic mouse brain, we show the fate specification and migration pattern of astrocytes derived from radial glia along the 3V wall. Unexpectedly, radial glia located in different regions along the 3V wall of the diencephalon produce distinct cell types: radial glia in the upper region produce astrocytes and those in the lower region produce neurons in the diencephalon. With genetic fate mapping analysis, we reveal that the first population of astrocytes appears along the zona incerta in the diencephalon. Astrogenesis occurs at an early time point in the dorsal region relative to that in the ventral region of the developing diencephalon. With transcriptomic analysis of the region-specific 3V wall and lateral ventricle (LV) wall, we identified cohorts of differentially-expressed genes in the dorsal 3V wall compared to the ventral 3V wall and LV wall that may regulate astrogenesis in the dorsal diencephalon. Together, these results demonstrate that the generation of astrocytes shows a spatiotemporal pattern in the developing mouse diencephalon.
星形胶质细胞是哺乳动物大脑中最大的神经胶质细胞群体。然而,我们对星形胶质细胞的发育知之甚少,尤其是在大脑不同区域的命运特化。通过在胚胎鼠脑内进行体细胞核移植,我们追踪了第三脑室(3V)壁祖细胞的谱系,展示了源自放射状胶质细胞的星形胶质细胞在 3V 壁上的命运特化和迁移模式。出乎意料的是,沿 3V 壁分布在不同区域的放射状胶质细胞产生了不同的细胞类型:上区的放射状胶质细胞产生星形胶质细胞,而下区的放射状胶质细胞产生间脑的神经元。通过遗传命运图谱分析,我们揭示了第一群星形胶质细胞出现在间脑的未定区内。相对于间脑腹侧区域,背侧区域的星形发生出现得更早。通过对特定区域的 3V 壁和侧脑室(LV)壁的转录组分析,我们鉴定了在背侧 3V 壁与腹侧 3V 壁和 LV 壁之间差异表达的基因群,这些基因可能调节背侧间脑的星形发生。总之,这些结果表明,星形胶质细胞的产生在发育中的小鼠间脑呈现时空模式。