title: Possible roles of Plexin-A4 in positioning of oligodendrocyte precursor cells in developing cerebral cortex.
abstract: Molecular mechanisms regulating positions of oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) remain unclear in developing cerebral cortex. To explore the mechanisms, we investigated how Plexin-A4, receptor of Semaphorin in OPCs, is involved in the positioning. We found that Plexin-A4 knockout mice exhibited (1) an increased number of OPCs in both the upper- and middle-regions of the cortical plate, where both indirect- and direct-ligands of Plexin-A4, Sema3A and Sema6A, respectively, were continuously expressed, and (2) aberrant distributions of OPCs in both the intermediate zone and corpus callosum, where Plexin-A4 was richly expressed in wild-type mice. These results suggest that Plexin-A4 is involved in the precise positioning of OPCs in developing cerebral cortex.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, 2641 Yamazaki, Noda, Chiba 278-8510, Japan.
authors.forename: Atsumasa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tomooka
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019521:Body Patterning / Q000502:physiology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000172:deficiency / Q000378:metabolism*; D058953:Neural Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D009836:Oligodendroglia / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000172:deficiency / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; C492110:Plxna4 protein, mouse; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface