Fujimoto Takahiro, Mori Miyuki, Tonosaki Madoka, Yaoi Takeshi, Nakano Kenta, Okamura Tadashi, Itoh Kyoko
Department of Pathology and Applied Neurobiology, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Graduate School of Medical Science, 465 Kajii-Cho, Kawaramachi Hirokoji, Kamigyo-Ku, Kyoto, 602-8566, Japan.
Department of Laboratory Animal Medicine, Research Institute, National Center for Global Health and Medicine (NCGM), Tokyo, 162-8655, Japan.
Mol Neurobiol. 2025 May;62(5):6256-6272. doi: 10.1007/s12035-024-04676-6. Epub 2025 Jan 6.
Duchenne/Becker muscular dystrophy (DMD/BMD) manifests progressive muscular dystrophy and non-progressive central nervous disorder. The neural disorder is possibly caused by abnormalities in the developmental period; however, basic research to understand the mechanisms remains underdeveloped. The responsible gene, Dmd (dystrophin), generates multiple products derived from several gene promoters. Here, we aim to characterize the expression of the shortest product, Dp71, during embryonic brain development and to identify its interaction proteins by using Dp71-specific tag-insertion mice. We showed that Dp71 and Dp140 were major dystrophin products significantly detectable in the mouse embryonic brains and Dp71 was the only dystrophin product derived from intron-62 gene promoter in the physiological mouse brains. Although both Dp71f (exon 78-exclusive form) and Dp71d (exon 78-inclusive form) existed in the embryonic brains, Dp71f and Dp71d were dominant forms in the prenatal and postnatal periods, respectively. We histologically found that Dp71 was prominently expressed in the neuroepithelium of the dorsal and medial telencephalon, which gives rise to the primordial cerebral cortex and hippocampus. Deeper analysis using in vitro primary culture verified Dp71 expressions in Nestin-positive neural stem/progenitor, Fabp7-positive radial glia, and Gfap-positive astrocytic cell populations. Interestingly, Dp71 was downregulated upon neuronal differentiation from stem/progenitor cells into TuJ1-positive immature neurons; however, Dp71 became detectable at Gephyrin-positive inhibitory postsynapses within mature neurons. Importantly, interactome analysis revealed dystroglycan, dystrobrevins, and syntrophins as dominant Dp71-partners in the embryonic neural stem/progenitor cells. Thus, the presence of Dp71-dystroglycan macromolecular complex was clearly established at an early stage of embryonic brain development, which sheds light on relations between fetal abnormalities and intellectual disabilities in DMD/BMD.
杜兴氏/贝克氏肌营养不良症(DMD/BMD)表现为进行性肌营养不良和非进行性中枢神经系统疾病。这种神经疾病可能是由发育时期的异常引起的;然而,了解其机制的基础研究仍不发达。致病基因Dmd(抗肌萎缩蛋白)通过多个基因启动子产生多种产物。在这里,我们旨在表征最短产物Dp71在胚胎脑发育过程中的表达,并通过使用Dp71特异性标签插入小鼠来鉴定其相互作用蛋白。我们发现Dp71和Dp140是在小鼠胚胎脑中可显著检测到的主要抗肌萎缩蛋白产物,并且Dp71是生理小鼠脑中唯一源自内含子62基因启动子的抗肌萎缩蛋白产物。虽然胚胎脑中同时存在Dp71f(外显子78缺失形式)和Dp71d(外显子78包含形式),但Dp71f和Dp71d分别在产前和产后阶段占主导地位。我们通过组织学发现Dp71在背侧和内侧端脑的神经上皮中显著表达,背侧和内侧端脑会发育成原始大脑皮层和海马体。使用体外原代培养的进一步分析证实了Dp71在巢蛋白阳性神经干/祖细胞、脂肪酸结合蛋白7阳性放射状胶质细胞和胶质纤维酸性蛋白阳性星形胶质细胞群体中的表达。有趣的是,当神经干/祖细胞分化为TuJ1阳性未成熟神经元时,Dp71表达下调;然而,在成熟神经元内的甘氨酸受体聚集蛋白阳性抑制性突触处可检测到Dp71。重要的是,相互作用组分析显示,在胚胎神经干/祖细胞中,抗肌萎缩蛋白聚糖、肌萎缩蛋白短肽和肌养蛋白是主要的Dp71相互作用蛋白。因此,在胚胎脑发育的早期阶段就明确建立了Dp71 - 抗肌萎缩蛋白聚糖大分子复合物的存在,这为DMD/BMD中胎儿异常与智力残疾之间的关系提供了线索。