Elsevier

Developmental Brain Research

Volume 84, Issue 1, 14 January 1995, Pages 109-129
Developmental Brain Research

Research report
Nestin mRNA expression correlates with the central nervous system progenitor cell state in many, but not all, regions of developing central nervous system

https://doi.org/10.1016/0165-3806(94)00162-SGet rights and content

Abstract

Nestin is a recently discovered intermediate filament (IF) gene. Nestin expression has been extensively used as a marker for central nervous system (CNS) progenitor cells in different contexts, based on observations indicating a correlation between nestin expression and this cell type in vivo. To evaluate this correlation in more detail nestin mRNA expression in developing and adult mouse CNS was analysed by in situ hybridization. We find that nestin is expressed from embryonic day (E) 7.75 and that expression is detected in many proliferating CNS regions; at E10.5 nestin is expressed in cells of both the rostral and caudal neural tube, including the radial glial cells; at E15.5 and postnatal day (P) 0 expression is observed largely in the developing cerebellum and in the ventricular and subventricular areas of the developing telencephalon. Furthermore, the transition from a proliferating to a post-mitotic cell state is accompanied by a rapid decrease in nestin mRNA for motor neurons in the ventral spinal cord and for neurons in the marginal layer of developing telencephalon. In contrast to these data we observe two proliferating areas, the olfactory epithelium and the precursor cells of the hippocampal granule neurons, which do not express nestin at detectable levels. Thus, nestin mRNA expression correlates with many, but not all, regions of proliferating CNS progenitor cells. In addition to its temporal and spatial regulation nestin expression also appears to be regulated at the level of subcellular mRNA localization: in columnar neuroepithelial and radial glial cells nestin mRNA is predominantly localized to the pial endfeet.

References (63)

  • J.-P. Misson et al.

    Mitotic cycling of radial glial cells of the fetal murine cerebral wall: a combined autoradiographic and immunohistochemical study

    Dev. Brain Res.

    (1988)
  • G. Sjöberg et al.

    Colocalization of nestin and vimentin/desmin in skeletal muscle cells demonstrated by three-dimensional fluorescence digital imaging microscopy

    Exp. Cell. Res.

    (1994)
  • P.M. Steinert et al.

    Intermediate filament dynamics

    Cell

    (1990)
  • D.K. Stemple et al.

    Isolation of a stem cell for neurons and glia from the mammalian neural crest

    Cell

    (1992)
  • C.M. Troy et al.

    Ontogeny of the neuronal intermediate filament protein, peripherin, in the mouse embryo

    Neuroscience

    (1990)
  • S.M. Troyanovsky et al.

    Contributions of cytoplasmic domains of desmosomal cadherins to desmosome assembly and intermediate filament anchorage

    Cell

    (1993)
  • Z. Xu et al.

    Increased expression of neurofilament subunit NF-L produces morphological alteration that resemble the pathology of human motor neuron disease

    Cell

    (1993)
  • Z.E. Zehner

    Regulation of intermediate filament gene expression

    Curr. Opin. Cell Biol.

    (1991)
  • L. Zimmerman et al.

    Independent regulatory elements in the nestin gene direct transgene expression to neural stem cells or muscle precursors

    Neuron

    (1994)
  • J. Altman et al.

    Prenatal development of the cerebellar system in the rat. I. Cytogenesis and histogenesis of the deep nuclei and the cortex of the cerebellum

    J. Comp. Neurol.

    (1978)
  • J.B. Angevine

    Autoradiographic study of neuronal proliferation gradients in the diencephalon of the mouse

    Anat. Rec.

    (1968)
  • J.M. Balcarek et al.

    Structure of the mouse glial fibrillary acidic protein gene: implications for the evolution of the intermediate filament multigene family

    Nucl. Acids Res.

    (1985)
  • The Boulder Committee et al.

    Embryonic vertebrate central nervous system: revised terminology

    Anat. Rec.

    (1970)
  • A. Caceres et al.

    Inhibition of neurite polarity by tau antisense oligonucleotides in primary cerebellar neurons

    Nature

    (1990)
  • C. Cattaneo et al.

    Proliferation and differentiation of neuronal stem cells regulated by nerve growth factor

    Nature

    (1990)
  • V.S. Caviness

    Time of neuron origin in the hippocampus and dentate gyrus of normal and reeler mutant mice: an autographic analysis

    J. Comp. Neurol.

    (1973)
  • L. Cripe et al.

    Vimentin mRNA location changes during muscle development

  • J. Dahlstrand et al.

    Expression of the class VI intermediate filament nestin in human central nervous system tumors

    Cancer Res.

    (1992)
  • J. Dahlstrand et al.

    Characterization of the human nestin gene reveals a close evolutionary relationship to neurofilaments

    J. Cell. Sci.

    (1992)
  • G. Fishell et al.

    Dispersion of neural progenitors within the germinal zones of the forebrain

    Nature

    (1993)
  • K.H. Fliegner et al.

    The predicted amino acid sequence of alpha-internexin is that of a novel neuronal intermediate filament protein

    EMBO J.

    (1990)
  • Cited by (0)

    Deceased July 18, 1994.

    View full text