<Emphasis Type="Italic">In vitro</Emphasis> induction of mouse meningeal-derived ips cells into neural-like cells

Previous research has shown that mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells can be induced to form neural cells in adherent monocultures. In this study, pluripotent stem (iPS) C5 cells derived from meningeal membranes were converted successfully into neural-like cells using the same protocol generally used for ES cells. Meningeal-iPS C5 cells were induced to express neural markers Sox1, Sox3, Pax6, Nestin and Tuj1 and to reduce the expression of ES markers Oct4 and Nanog during neural differentiation, and can be differentiated into Pax6 and Nestin positive neural progenitors, and further into neuronal, astrocytic, and oligodendrocytic cells. In vitro differentiation of iPS cells into patient-specific neural cells could serve as a model to study mechanisms of genetic diseases and develop promising candidates for therapeutic applications in dysfunctional or aging neural tissues. Meningeal cells express a high level of the embryonic master regulator Sox2, allowing them to be reprogrammed into iPS cells more easily than other somatic cells.     

Sex determination involves synergistic action of SRY and SF1 on a specific Sox9 enhancer

The mammalian Y chromosome acts as a dominant male determinant as a result of the action of a single gene, Sry, whose role in sex determination is to initiate testis rather than ovary development from early bipotential gonads. It does so by triggering the differentiation of Sertoli cells from supporting cell precursors, which would otherwise give follicle cells. The related autosomal gene Sox9 is also known from loss-of-function mutations in mice and humans to be essential for Sertoli cell differentiation; moreover, its abnormal expression in an XX gonad can lead to male development in the absence of Sry. These genetic data, together with the finding that Sox9 is upregulated in Sertoli cell precursors just after SRY expression begins, has led to the proposal that Sox9 could be directly regulated by SRY. However, the mechanism by which SRY action might affect Sox9 expression was not understood. Here we show that SRY binds to multiple elements within a Sox9 gonad-specific enhancer in mice, and that it does so along with steroidogenic factor 1 (SF1, encoded by the gene Nr5a1 (Sf1)), an orphan nuclear receptor. Mutation, co-transfection and sex-reversal studies all point to a feedforward, self-reinforcing pathway in which SF1 and SRY cooperatively upregulate Sox9 and then, together with SF1, SOX9 also binds to the enhancer to help maintain its own expression after that of SRY has ceased. Our results open up the field, permitting further characterization of the molecular mechanisms regulating sex determination and how they have evolved, as well as how they fail in cases of sex reversal.     

两对引物PCR扩增黑斑蛙Sox基因

以人的SRY基因的HMG-box保守区设计的两对引物,对黑斑蛙Sox基因的扩增.结果如下:1)雌雄黑斑蛙均扩增出一条带,大小约为220 bp,说明Sox基因的长度在黑斑蛙雌雄个体间无性别差异;2)两对引物的扩增结果相同,表明Sox基因有高度保守性.     

Can we be aware of both visceral and somatic sensations via a single neuronal pathway?

Sensory information arising from somatic and visceral area is thought to be respectively transmitted to the brain by two distinct sensory neuronal systems, the somatic and visceral sensory pathway. A novel and unique spinal sensory system, the spinosolitary tract-dorsal column postsynaptic neuronal system (SST-DCPS), was physiologically and anatomically identified. The spinal neurons project to both visceral (the solitary tract nucleus) and somatic sensory (the dorsal column nuclei) nuclei via their branched axons and receive both visceral and somatic sensory information ascending from periphery through dichotomized primary afferents and descending from their targets via their branched axons. The brain might thus be aware of both visceral and somatic sensation via a single SST-DCPS neuronal channel. The finding of SST-DCPS system, as an example, might be considered as an intersection or fuzzy set of the SST and DCPS system and the concept of dichotomy in classification of neurons and neuronal pathways might thus be challenged.