title: Mitochondrial reshaping accompanies neural differentiation in the developing spinal cord.
abstract: Mitochondria, long known as the cell powerhouses, also regulate redox signaling and arbitrate cell survival. The organelles are now appreciated to exert additional critical roles in cell state transition from a pluripotent to a differentiated state through balancing glycolytic and respiratory metabolism. These metabolic adaptations were recently shown to be concomitant with mitochondrial morphology changes and are thus possibly regulated by contingencies of mitochondrial dynamics. In this context, we examined, for the first time, mitochondrial network plasticity during the transition from proliferating neural progenitors to post-mitotic differentiating neurons. We found that mitochondria underwent morphological reshaping in the developing neural tube of chick and mouse embryos. In the proliferating population, mitochondria in the mitotic cells lying at the apical side were very small and round, while they appeared thick and short in interphase cells. In differentiating neurons, mitochondria were reorganized into a thin, dense network. This reshaping of the mitochondrial network was not specific of a subtype of progenitors or neurons, suggesting that this is a general event accompanying neurogenesis in the spinal cord. Our data shed new light on the various changes occurring in the mitochondrial network during neurogenesis and suggest that mitochondrial dynamics could play a role in the neurogenic process.
authors.affiliation: Universités de Toulouse, Centre de Biologie du Développement, CNRS UMR5547, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Valérie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Mils
authors.affiliation: Universités de Toulouse, Centre de Biologie du Développement, CNRS UMR5547, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Stéphanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bosch
authors.affiliation: Universités de Toulouse, Centre de Biologie du Développement, CNRS UMR5547, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.affiliation: Universités de Toulouse, Centre de Biologie du Développement, CNRS UMR5547, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bel-Vialar
authors.affiliation: Universités de Toulouse, Centre de Biologie du Développement, CNRS UMR5547, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Pascale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Belenguer
authors.affiliation: Universités de Toulouse, Centre de Biologie du Développement, CNRS UMR5547, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: Fabienne
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pituello
authors.affiliation: Universités de Toulouse, Centre de Biologie du Développement, CNRS UMR5547, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France; UPMC Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Sorbonne Universités, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Marie-Christine
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Miquel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology*; D002642:Chick Embryo; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000378:metabolism*; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology*; D058953:Neural Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D055495:Neurogenesis / Q000502:physiology*; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology*