日本一個(gè)研究小組日前報(bào)告說,，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)了在腦神經(jīng)形成過程中發(fā)揮決定性作用的基因，這一發(fā)現(xiàn)將有助于提高再生醫(yī)療的安全性和效果,。
利用胚胎干細(xì)胞和誘導(dǎo)多能干細(xì)胞（iPS細(xì)胞）等培育腦神經(jīng)細(xì)胞以用于再生醫(yī)療移植時(shí),，往往還會(huì)形成其他細(xì)胞，因此需要把生成的神經(jīng)細(xì)胞和其他細(xì)胞區(qū)分開來。為解決上述問題,，研究人員一直希望弄清腦神經(jīng)細(xì)胞的形成機(jī)制,。
日本理化學(xué)研究所的一個(gè)研究小組在新一期英國《自然》雜志網(wǎng)絡(luò)版上報(bào)告說，他們?cè)诶眯∈蟮呐咛ジ杉?xì)胞培育腦神經(jīng)細(xì)胞時(shí)發(fā)現(xiàn),，在即將分化為腦神經(jīng)前驅(qū)的細(xì)胞中,，有一種稱為ZfP521的基因非常活躍,。研究人員抑制這種基因功能后發(fā)現(xiàn),，小鼠的胚胎干細(xì)胞無法再分化為腦神經(jīng)細(xì)胞。研究人員確認(rèn),，正是這種基因合成的蛋白質(zhì)發(fā)出了形成腦神經(jīng)細(xì)胞的指令,。
研究人員在利用人類胚胎干細(xì)胞進(jìn)行實(shí)驗(yàn)時(shí)，也獲得了相同結(jié)果,。他們表示,，這項(xiàng)發(fā)現(xiàn)將有助于提高再生醫(yī)療的安全性和效果。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原文出處：
Nature doi:10.1038/nature09726
Intrinsic transition of embryonic stem-cell differentiation into neural progenitors
Daisuke Kamiya,1, 2 Satoe Banno,1 Noriaki Sasai,1 Masatoshi Ohgushi,1 Hidehiko Inomata,1 Kiichi Watanabe,1 Masako Kawada,1 Rieko Yakura,1 Hiroshi Kiyonari,3 Kazuki Nakao,3 Lars Martin Jakt,4 Shin-ichi Nishikawa4 & Yoshiki Sasai1, 2
The neural fate is generally considered to be the intrinsic direction of embryonic stem (ES) cell differentiation. However, little is known about the intracellular mechanism that leads undifferentiated cells to adopt the neural fate in the absence of extrinsic inductive signals. Here we show that the zinc-finger nuclear protein Zfp521 is essential and sufficient for driving the intrinsic neural differentiation of mouse ES cells. In the absence of the neural differentiation inhibitor BMP4, strong Zfp521 expression is intrinsically induced in differentiating ES cells. Forced expression of Zfp521 enables the neural conversion of ES cells even in the presence of BMP4. Conversely, in differentiation culture, Zfp521-depleted ES cells do not undergo neural conversion but tend to halt at the epiblast state. Zfp521 directly activates early neural genes by working with the co-activator p300. Thus, the transition of ES cell differentiation from the epiblast state into neuroectodermal progenitors specifically depends on the cell-intrinsic expression and activator function of Zfp521.
