Roles of PDGF for Neural Stem Cells

Sammanfattning: Stem cells are endowed with unique qualities: they can both self-renew and give rise to new mature cell types. Central nervous system (CNS) stem cells can give rise to neurons and glia. What factors regulate stem cell fate decisions? Identifying signals that are involved in the regulation of CNS stem cell proliferation, survival, differentiation and migration is fundamental to the understanding of CNS development. In addition, this knowledge hopefully will contribute to more efficient therapies of CNS damages and diseases.The focus of this thesis was to investigate mechanisms of CNS stem cell proliferation and differentiation. We have studied the role for platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) in these cellular events both in vitro and in vivo. Previous reports have shown that PDGF are implicated in brain tumorigenesis and also supports neuronal differentiation of CNS stem cells. We have found that PDGF promotes survival and proliferation of immature neurons, thereby supporting neuronal differentiation. The intracellular Ras/ERK signaling pathway probably mediates the mitogenic activity of PDGF. In contrast, neuronal differentiation is not dependent on the Ras/ERK pathway. A genetic expression profile of stem cells during their differentiation was obtained. This microarray analysis suggests that PDGF-treated stem cells are at an intermediate stage between proliferation and differentiation. Furthermore, we generated transgenic mice that overexpress Pdgf-b in neural stem cells. Preliminary data indicate no signs of enhanced proliferation of immature neurons. Instead, increased apoptosis was detected in the developing striatum.The results presented in this thesis show how CNS stem cells are regulated by PDGF. PDGFs are widely expressed in the developing CNS and also in some brain tumors, which are thought to arise from CNS stem cells. Thus, this knowledge may contribute to an increased understanding of brain tumorigenesis in addition to normal CNS development.