Eguchi Ryota, Higashida Yuya, Oouchi Mizuki, Yamaguchi Soichiro, Otsuguro Ken-Ichi
Laboratory of Pharmacology, Department of Basic Veterinary Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Hokkaido University, Kita 19 Nishi 9, Kita-Ku, Sapporo, 0600818, Japan.
In Vitro Cell Dev Biol Anim. 2025 Apr;61(4):416-424. doi: 10.1007/s11626-025-01043-0. Epub 2025 May 15.
In the central nervous system (CNS), cystathionine β-synthase (CBS) is localized in astrocytes. CBS degrades cytotoxic homocysteine and produces cytoprotective hydrogen sulfide; thus the proper expression of CBS is required to maintain CNS functions. CBS expression is very low at the late embryonic stage and increases after birth. This study examined CBS expression in cultured spinal cord cells derived from fetal rats. Treatment of spinal cord cells with epidermal growth factor (EGF) promoted the proliferation and maturation of astrocytes during development. EGF (30 ng/ml, 4 days) increased CBS protein expression and the number of CBS-expressing astrocytes in the culture. A high cell density also increased CBS expression, and EGF was able to increase CBS expression when cellular proliferation was inhibited. The EGF receptor was predominately expressed in neural stem cells rather than astrocytes. These results suggest that EGF acts on neural stem cells, leading to increase in CBS-expressing astrocytes. This effect may reflect the maturation process of astrocytes during embryonic development.
在中枢神经系统（CNS）中，胱硫醚β-合酶（CBS）定位于星形胶质细胞。CBS降解具有细胞毒性的同型半胱氨酸并产生具有细胞保护作用的硫化氢；因此，CBS的正常表达是维持中枢神经系统功能所必需的。CBS在胚胎发育后期的表达非常低，出生后会增加。本研究检测了源自胎鼠的培养脊髓细胞中CBS的表达。在发育过程中，用表皮生长因子（EGF）处理脊髓细胞可促进星形胶质细胞的增殖和成熟。EGF（30 ng/ml，处理4天）可增加培养物中CBS蛋白的表达以及表达CBS的星形胶质细胞的数量。高细胞密度也会增加CBS的表达，并且当细胞增殖受到抑制时，EGF仍能够增加CBS的表达。EGF受体主要在神经干细胞而非星形胶质细胞中表达。这些结果表明，EGF作用于神经干细胞，导致表达CBS的星形胶质细胞增多。这种效应可能反映了胚胎发育过程中星形胶质细胞的成熟过程。
