title: The expression patterns of MHC class I molecules in the developmental human visual system.
abstract: It has been considered that healthy neurons in central nervous system (CNS) do not express major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules. However, recent studies clearly demonstrated the expression of functional MHC class I in the mammalian embryonic, neonatal and adult brain. Until now, it is still unknown whether MHC I molecules are expressed in the development of human brain. We collected nine human brain tissues from fetuses aged from 21 to 31 gestational weeks (GW), one newborn of postnatal 55 days and one adult. The expression of MHC class I molecules was detected during the development of visual system in human brain by immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence. MHC class I proteins were located at lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and the expression was gradually increased from 21 GW to 31 GW and reached high levels at 30-31 GW when fine-scale refinement phase was mediated by neural electric activity. However, there was no expression of MHC class I molecules in the visual cortical cortex during all the developmental stages examined. We also concluded that MHC class I molecules were mainly expressed in neurons but not in astrocytes at LGN. In the developing visual system, the expression of β2M protein on neurons was not found in our study.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Developmental Genes and Human Disease, Ministry of Education, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical School, Southeast University, 87 Dingjiaqiao Road, Nanjing 210009, China.
authors.forename: Aifeng
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Yuqing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Jiane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Youji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Fengqin
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Miao
authors.forename: Jianqiong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000276:immunology*; D005829:Geniculate Bodies / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000737:chemistry / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I