2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

A study on the structure -function relationship of radial glia cells

Research Project

Project/Area Number	23570226
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Section	一般
Research Field	Cell biology
Research Institution	Osaka University
Principal Investigator	ZHU YAN 大阪大学, 生命機能研究科, 助教 (50464235)
Project Period (FY)	2011 – 2013
Keywords	放射状グリア / 放射状突起 / CXCL12 / CXCR4 / β1インテグリン / 基底膜
Research Abstract	Radial glia cells are crucial to construct the nervous system. They have dual functions as neural progenitors as well as extending radial processes as physical scaffold for the developing neural tube. How their radial morphology is maintained and whether this is important are the key questions we have addressed in this project. Here we show that radial processes are disrupted in spinal cord of mouse mutants deficient in CXCL12/CXCR4/CXCR7 signaling. Interestingly this disruption causes leaky interface between the central nervous system and the periphery as cells from the latter are seen to invade into the former. We then showed that CXCL12 signaling affect the adhesiveness of radial glia to basement membrane components. Furthermore, we found that CXCL12 stimulation facilitates integrin B1 activation. Thus CXCL12/CXCR4/CXCR7 are important in maintaining the integrity of radial scaffold which in turn maintains the cellular segregation of the central nervous system.