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ISDN2014_0413: Enriched environment is able to counteract some of the histological alterations induced by early noise exposure
Author(s) -
SaintMartin M.,
Molina S.J.,
Capani F.,
Guelman L.R.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
international journal of developmental neuroscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.761
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1873-474X
pISSN - 0736-5748
DOI - 10.1016/j.ijdevneu.2015.04.331
Subject(s) - saint , humanities , philosophy , art , art history
The establishment of cell diversity in the nervous system requires tight control of the differentiation of progenitor cells into neurons and glia. The role of cellular interactions in regulating this differentiation process remains poorly understood. Here we show that in a developing neuroepithelium, the olfactory epithelium, the spatially regulated expression of the receptor Neogenin and of its membrane-bound ligand Rgm-b controls cell fate choice. In this layered epithelium, Neogenin is expressed in progenitor cells, while Rgm-b expression is restricted to progenitor-adjacent newly born olfactory receptor neurons. In cultures of olfactory epithelium explants, Rgm-b promotes neuronal differentiation and inhibits the formation of glial-like sustentacular cells. Ablation of either Neogenin or Rgm-b expression using gene-targeting approaches in mice results in an increase in the number of dividing progenitor cells and in the generation of supernumerary sustentacular cells in the olfactory epithelium. Furthermore, neogenin mutant mice display improper differentiation and increased apoptosis of olfactory receptor neurons. Combined together, our results establish Neogenin and Rgm-b as key factors that regulate cell differentiation in the olfactory epithelium.