Differentiation of neural precursor cell-derived oligodendrocyte progenitor cells following transplantation into normal and injured spinal cords.
Demyelination contributes to the functional deficits after spinal cord injury (SCI). Therefore, remyelination may be an important strategy to facilitate repair after SCI. Oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) are immature oligodendrocytes and can differentiate into myelin-forming cells of central nervous system under certain conditions. OPC transplantation is an attractive approach for the treatment of demyelinating diseases. In this study, we transplanted OPCs expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP-OPCs) into normal and injured rat spinal cords to evaluate the differentiation of transplanted OPCs in vivo. Unfortunately, the grafted GFP-OPCs, in spinal cord whether normal or injured, were all differentiated into astrocytes, but not oligodendrocytes. Our further study indicated that inflammatory environment might not be the key factor influencing the differentiation of OPCs. Some spinal cord components, such as bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), were the major factors that induced OPCs to differentiate into astrocytes. The three types of BMP receptor (BMPRIA, IB and II) could all be detected in OPCs, and the astroglial differentiation of OPCs induced by spinal cord homogenate extract (SCHE) in vitro could be blocked partly by noggin, an antagonist of BMP. These results suggested that the BMPR signal transduction pathway might be one of the key factors which determine the differentiation direction of engrafted OPCs in spinal cord.
Lü
He-Zuo
HZ
Department of Neurobiology, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, 280 South Chongqing Road, Shanghai 200025, PR China.
Wang
Yan-Xia
YX
Zou
Jian
J
Li
Ying
Y
Fu
Sai-Li
SL
Jin
Jian-Qiang
JQ
Hu
Jian-Guo
JG
Lu
Pei-Hua
PH
D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D052004:Bone Morphogenetic Protein Receptors / Q000378:metabolism; D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D005260:Female; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D058953:Neural Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000637:transplantation*; D009836:Oligodendroglia / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D013119:Spinal Cord Injuries / Q000378:metabolism / Q000628:therapy*
D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D052004:Bone Morphogenetic Protein Receptors