http://www.kuleuven.be/english/news/protein-identified-that-can-disrupt-embryonic-brain-development-and-neuron-migration
Interneurons – nerve cells that function as ‘dimmers’ – play
an important role in the brain. Their formation and migration to the
cerebral cortex during the embryonic stage of development is crucial to
normal brain functioning. Abnormal interneuron development and migration
can eventually lead to a range of disorders and diseases, from epilepsy
to Alzheimer's. New research by Dr. Eve Seuntjens and Dr. Veronique van
den Berghe of the Department of Development and Regeneration (Danny
Huylebroeck laboratory, Faculty of Medicine) has identified two
proteins, Sip1 and Unc5b, that play an important role in the development
and migration of interneurons to the cerebral cortex – a breakthrough
in our understanding of early brain development.
Interneurons (moving from bottom-left to top-right in this
image) use tiny arms to pull themselves out of a piece of embryonic
brain tissue that has grown for two days in a petri dish.
TrailblazerS
Researchers have only recently understood how different kinds of neuron are formed during embryonic development. During early brain development, stem cells form projection neurons in the cerebral cortex. Interneurons are made elsewhere in the brain. These interneurons then migrate to the cortex to mix with the projection neurons. Dr. Eve Seuntjens of the Celgen laboratory led by Professor Danny Huylebroeck explains: "The journey of interneurons is very complex: their environment changes constantly during growth and there are no existing structures — such as nerve pathways — available for them to follow."The question is how young interneurons receive their ‘directions’ to the cerebral cortex. Several proteins play a role, says Dr. Seuntjens. "We changed the gene containing the production code for the protein Sip1 in mice so that this protein was no longer produced during brain development. In those mice, the interneurons never made it to the cerebral cortex — they couldn't find the way.
Without Sip1 production, interneurons encounter too many stop signs and become blocked.
The next step is to study this process in the neurons of humans. "Now that there are techniques to create stem cells from skin cells, we can mimic the development of stem cells into interneurons and study what can go wrong. From there, we can test whether certain drugs can reverse the damage. That’s all still on the horizon, but you can see that the focus of research on many brain disorders and diseases is increasingly shifting to early child development because that just might be where a cause can be found."
The full text of the study 'Directed migration of cortical interneurons depends on the cell-autonomous action or Sip1' is available on the website of Neuron: www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627312010008
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