title: Ngn2 and Nurr1 act in synergy to induce midbrain dopaminergic neurons from expanded neural stem and progenitor cells.
abstract: Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a debilitating motor function disorder due primarily to a loss of midbrain dopaminergic neurons and a subsequent reduction in dopaminergic innervation of the striatum. Several attempts have been made to generate dopaminergic neurons from progenitor cell populations in vitro for potential use in cell replacement therapy for PD. However, expanding cells from fetal brain with retained potential for dopaminergic differentiation has proven to be difficult. In this study, we sought to generate mesencephalic dopaminergic (mesDA) neurons from an expanded population of fetal mouse ventral midbrain (VM) progenitors through the use of retroviral gene delivery. We over-expressed Ngn2 and Nurr1, two genes present in the ventral midbrain and important for normal development of mesDA neurons, in multi-passaged neurosphere-expanded midbrain progenitors. We show that over-expression of Ngn2 in these progenitors results in increased neuronal differentiation but does not promote mesDA formation. We also show that over-expression of Nurr1 alone is sufficient to generate tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) expressing cells with an immature morphology, however the cells do not express any additional markers of mesDA neurons. Over-expression of Nurr1 and Ngn2 in combination generates morphologically mature TH-expressing neurons that also express additional mesencephalic markers.
authors.affiliation: Wallenberg Neuroscience Center, Division of Neurobiology, Lund University, BMC A11, S-221 84 Lund, Sweden.
authors.forename: Elin K I
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Andersson
authors.forename: Dwain K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Irvin
authors.forename: Jessica
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ahlsiö
authors.forename: Malin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Parmar
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism*; D008636:Mesencephalon / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000201:enzymology / Q000502:physiology*; D057126:Nuclear Receptor Subfamily 4, Group A, Member 2; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000201:enzymology / Q000502:physiology*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000502:physiology*; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D004298:Dopamine; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D057126:Nuclear Receptor Subfamily 4, Group A, Member 2; D014157:Transcription Factors; D014446:Tyrosine 3-Monooxygenase; C102938:Neurog2 protein, mouse; C539883:Nr4a2 protein, mouse