| Project/Area Number |
16606006
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
幹細胞生物学
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| Research Institution | RIKEN |
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Principal Investigator |
OSAWA Masatake RIKEN, Laboratory for Stem Cell Biology, Research Scientist, 幹細胞研究グループ, 研究員 (10344029)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2004 – 2005
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| Project Status |
Completed (Fiscal Year 2005)
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| Budget Amount *help |
¥3,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,900,000)
Fiscal Year 2005: ¥1,900,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,900,000)
Fiscal Year 2004: ¥2,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,000,000)
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| Keywords | Stem Cells / Melanocytes / Stem cell niche / Differentiation / Cell-fate deternination / Single cell PCR / 細胞培養 |
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| Research Abstract |
Emerging evidences from stem cell (SC) research have strengthened the idea that SC fate is determined by a specialized environment, known as a SC niche. However, the exact mechanisms underlying SC regulation by the niche remain elusive because of the difficulty of dentifying individual stem cells and their surrounding components in the tissue. To overcome this difficulty, we employed melanocyate stem cells (MSCs) that allow identifying individual SCs in their putative niche, the bulge/sub-bulge of the hair follicle (HF). Here, we show molecular makers that can distinguish MSCs from other melanocyte (MC) subsets in the HF or the embryonic epidermis. We also describe a simple and robust method to allow gene expression profiling in the individual SCs. By isolating individual MSCs from the transgenic mice that allow marking all the MCs by a green fluorescence protein (GFP), we performed single-cell transcript analysis to obtained molecular signatures of individual SCs in the niche. The data suggests that the existence of a mechanism that induces down-regulation of the various key molecules for the MC proliferation or differentiation in MSCs located in the niche. Analysis of Bcl2 knockout mice also revealed the crucial role of Bcl2 in the maintenance of MSCs By integrating these data, we propose that the niche is an environment that insulates SCs from various activating stimuli and maintains them in a quiescent status by ensuring their survival against apoptotic cell death.
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