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Neurogenesis

sAPPing the strength of the SVZ

Nature Reviews Neuroscience volume 5, pages 434–435 (2004)Cite this article

It was previously shown that sAPP enhances the proliferation of embryonic neural precursor cells in vitro, and Caillé et al. asked whether it has a similar function in the subventricular zone (SVZ) of the adult mouse brain. By probing sections of brain tissue with an antibody-tagged sAPP molecule, they showed that the SVZ contains binding sites for sAPP. Moreover, they found that sAPP binds to a population of cells that proliferate in response to epidermal growth factor (EGF). These EGF-responsive cells were recently identified as type C cells — a subpopulation of stem cells that divide rapidly to amplify the SVZ neural progenitor pool.

To investigate the actions of sAPP and its functional relationship with EGF, the authors analysed EGF-responsive SVZ cells that were growing as aggregates, or neurospheres, in culture. They showed that EGF stimulates secretion of sAPP from these neurospheres. If sAPP was sequestered in the tissue culture medium using antibodies, there was a marked decrease in neurosphere expansion, indicating that sAPP is required for EGF-induced proliferation of SVZ cells. However, sAPP could not stimulate neurosphere cell division on its own, indicating that it acts as a co-factor of EGF.

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References

ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER

  1. Caillé, I. et al. Soluble form of amyloid precursor protein regulates proliferation of progenitors in the adult subventricular zone. Development 131, 2173–2181 (2004)

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FURTHER READING

  1. Alvarez-Buylla, A. et al. A unified hypothesis on the lineage of neural stem cells. Nature Rev. Neurosci. 2, 287–293 (2001)

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Authors
  1. Heather Wood
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Wood, H. sAPPing the strength of the SVZ. Nat Rev Neurosci 5, 434–435 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1415

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn1415

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