News Release

Progress in exploring new avenues for brain repair

Astroglia reprogrammed to generate synapse-forming neurons

Peer-Reviewed Publication

PLOS

A research team led by Professor Magdalena Götz and Dr. Benedikt Berninger of Helmholtz Zentrum München and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Munich, reports a major step forward in discovering a therapy for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's or stroke. The researchers were able to convert glial cells of the brain into two different functional classes of neurons. The findings will publish next week in the online, open access journal PLoS Biology.

Neurons are the cells in the brain which transmit information, while the astroglia (star-shaped glial cells) serve as a supportive scaffold and are involved in metabolism. Moreover, astroglia are closely related to radial glial cells, which during embryonic forebrain development function as precursors for most neurons. In fact, some glial cells even in the adult brain retain the capability of producing neurons – however these are only found in specific regions.

It is still not known exactly what differentiates normal astroglia from radial glial cells with neurogenic potential. However, the researchers led by Magdalena Götz, director of the Institute of Stem Cell Research at Helmholtz Zentrum München and chair of Physiological Genomics at LMU, have already shown in previous studies that astroglia from the cerebral cortex of young mice, which are normally incapable of generating neurons, can be driven to convert into neurons by forced expression of special regulatory proteins.

In this study, Götz and her team showed how astroglia can be directly converted into the two main classes of cortical neurons. This was made possible by the selective virus- mediated expression of specific proteins – transcription factors – which regulate the transcription of DNA. While the transcription factor neurogenin-2 directs the generation of excitatory neurons, the same astroglial cells yield inhibitory neurons after transduction of the transcription factor Dlx2.

"In this study we have succeeded in reprogramming the newly created neurons to the extent that they can now develop functioning synapses. These release – depending on the transcription factor used – either excitatory or inhibitory neurotransmitter substances," said Dr. Christophe Heinrich, first author of the study. This process could not only be observed in young astroglia, but even in astroglia in the adult brain following tissue injury-induced reactivation.

"Our findings nurture the hope that the barrier separating the astroglial and neuronal cells – closely related as they are – is not insurmountable," Dr. Berninger emphasized. Due to these encouraging results, the researchers intend to pursue this avenue further to gain new neurons from the glial cells present in the brain, in order to find therapies for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.

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Funding: This work was supported by grants from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft [http://www.dfg.de/] to BB and MG (BE 4182/1-3 and 640/9-1) and to TS (SCHR 1142/1-1), the Bavarian State Ministry of Sciences, Research, and the Arts (ForNeuroCell)[http://www.bayfor.org/de/geschaeftsbereiche/forschungsverbuende/welt-des-lebens/forneurocell.html] to BB and MG, and the Exzellenzcluster 114 Munich Center for Integrated Protein Science Munich (CIPSM) [http://www.cipsm.de/en/index.html] and European Transcriptome, Regulome & Cellular Commitment Consortium (EUTRACC)http://www.eutracc.eu/ to MG. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Competing interests statement: The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Citation: Heinrich C, Blum R, Gascón S, Masserdotti G, Tripathi P, et al. (2010) Directing Astroglia from the Cerebral Cortex into Subtype Specific Functional Neurons. PLoS Biol 8(5): e1000373. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1000373

PLEASE ADD THE LINK TO THE PUBLISHED ARTICLE IN ONLINE VERSIONS OF YOUR REPORT: http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.1000373

PRESS ONLY PREVIEW OF THE ARTICLE: http://www.plos.org/press/plbi-08-05-Berninger.pdf


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