The central nervous system (CNS) is composed of three major cell types, neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes, which differentiate from common multipotent neural stem/precursor cells (NS/PCs). However, NS/PCs do not have this multipotentiality from the beginning: neurons are generated first and astrocytes are later during CNS development. This developmental progression is observed in vitro by using human (h) NS/PCs derived from pluripotent cells, such as embryonic- and induced pluripotent-stem cells (ES/iPSCs), however, in contrast to rodent's pluripotent cells, they require quite long time to obtain astrocytic differentiation potential. Here, we show that hypoxia confers astrocytic differentiation potential on hNS/PCs through epigenetic alteration for gene regulation. Furthermore, we found that these molecular mechanisms can be applied to functional analysis of patient' iPSC-derived astrocytes. In this review, we summarize recent findings that address molecular mechanisms of epigenetic and transcription factor-mediated regulation that specify NS/PC fate and the development of potential therapeutic strategies for treating astrocyte-mediated neurological disorders.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1254/fpj.153.54 | DOI Listing |
Cells
January 2025
Department of Biochemistry, Donnelly Centre, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3E1, Canada.
In neurons, the acquisition of a polarized morphology is achieved upon the outgrowth of a single axon from one of several neurites. Small extracellular vesicles (sEVs), such as exosomes, from diverse sources are known to promote neurite outgrowth and thus may have therapeutic potential. However, the effect of fibroblast-derived exosomes on axon elongation in neurons of the central nervous system under growth-permissive conditions remains unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCNS Neurol Disord Drug Targets
January 2025
School of Medicine, Foshan University, Foshan, 528000, China.
Introduction: Neuroinflammation derived from the activation of the microglia is considered a vital pathogenic factor of Alzheimer's Disease (AD). T-006, a tetramethylpyrazine derivative, has been found to alleviate cognitive deficits via inhibiting tau expression and phosphorylation in AD transgenic mouse models. Recently, T-006 has been proven to dramatically decrease the levels of total Amyloid β (Aβ) peptide and Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein (GFAP) and suppress the expression of ionized calcium binding adaptor molecule-1 (Iba-1) in APP/PS1 mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Reactive astrogliosis refers to functional and morphological changes in astrocytes that occur with neuronal damage in numerous neurological conditions. PET tracers targeting monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B) are used to visualize reactive astrogliosis in the living brain. [F]SMBT-1, a MAO-B selective PET tracer, was developed by modifying the chemical structure of [F]THK5351.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Age-related neurodegenerative disorders (NDDs) continuum includes late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD), Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), and Parkinson's disease (PD) exhibit shared and distinct clinicopathological characteristics. Each of the different NDDs is characterized by a complex genetic etiology and although numerous loci have been identified via GWAS, and the causal genes and the specific neuronal and glial cell subtypes through which they exert their pathogenic effects are yet to be fully elucidated. We aimed to untangle the genetic complexity of NDDs, and to identify shared and distinct biological pathways and disease driver cell-subtypes across NDDs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlzheimers Dement
December 2024
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Background: Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of Alzheimer's disease (AD) have identified approximately 70 genetic loci linked to the disorder. The pivotal challenge in the post-GWAS era is dissecting the underlying causal variants and effector genes, a crucial step for effective therapeutic development. Most of these variants reside in non-coding regions of the genome, suggesting their regulatory role in distal gene expression.
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