title: Midkine, a heparin-binding growth factor, is expressed in neural precursor cells and promotes their growth.
abstract: Midkine, a heparin-binding growth factor, was found to be expressed in neural precursor cells, which consist of neural stem cells and the progenitor cells. When embryonic brain cells were allowed to form neurospheres enriched in neural precursor cells, numbers were significantly smaller from the midkine-deficient brain than from the wild-type brain. Dissociated neurosphere cells yielded nestin-positive neural precursor cells and differentiated neuronal cells upon culture on a substratum. Neural precursor cells from the midkine-deficient brain spread poorly and grew less effectively on a substratum coated with poly-l-lysine than the cells on midkine-coated substratum. Neural precursor cells from the wild-type brain spread and grew well on both the substrata. Differentiation to neurons and glia cells was not affected by the absence of midkine. Heparitinase digestion of dissociated neurosphere cells resulted in poor growth of neural precursor cells, while chondroitinase digestion had no effect. These results indicate that midkine is involved in the growth of neural precursor cells and suggest that the interaction with heparan sulfate proteoglycans is important in midkine action to these cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Center for Neurological Disease and Cancer, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan.
authors.forename: Peng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zou
authors.forename: Hisako
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Muramatsu
authors.forename: Takaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miyata
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Muramatsu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology; D049108:Cell Enlargement / Q000187:drug effects; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D016207:Cytokines / Q000172:deficiency / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000502:physiology*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods; D020287:In Situ Nick-End Labeling / Q000379:methods; D007381:Intermediate Filament Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D000078792:Midkine; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D064231:Nestin; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects*; D011247:Pregnancy; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000187:drug effects*; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein; D007381:Intermediate Filament Proteins; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; C079240:Mtap2 protein, mouse; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; C577485:Nes protein, mouse; D064231:Nestin; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D000078792:Midkine