Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0038454 (stroke)
 147,016 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Neural stem cells (NSC) with self-renewal and multipotent properties could provide an ideal cell source for transplantation to treat spinal cord injury, stroke, and neurodegenerative diseases. However, the majority of transplanted NSC and neural progenitor cells (NPC) differentiate into astrocytes in vivo under pathological environments in the central nervous system, which potentially cause reactive gliosis. Because the serum is a potent inducer of astrocyte differentiation of rodent NPC in culture, we studied the effect of the serum on gene expression profile of cultured human NPC to identify the gene signature of astrocyte differentiation of human NPC. Human NPC spheres maintained in the serum-free culture medium were exposed to 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) for 72 h, and processed for analyzing on a Whole Human Genome Microarray of 41,000 genes, and the microarray data were validated by real-time RT-PCR. The serum elevated the levels of expression of 45 genes, including ID1, ID2, ID3, CTGF, TGFA, METRN, GFAP, CRYAB and CSPG3, whereas it reduced the expression of 23 genes, such as DLL1, DLL3, PDGFRA, SOX4, CSPG4, GAS1 and HES5. Thus, the serum-induced astrocyte differentiation of human NPC is characterized by a counteraction of ID family genes on Delta family genes. Coimmunoprecipitation analysis identified ID1 as a direct binding partner of a proneural basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor MASH1. Luciferase assay indicated that activation of the DLL1 promoter by MASH1 was counteracted by ID1. Bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) elevated the levels of ID1 and GFAP expression in NPC under the serum-free culture conditions. Because the serum contains BMP4, these results suggest that the serum factor(s), most probably BMP4, induces astrocyte differentiation by upregulating the expression of ID family genes that repress the proneural bHLH protein-mediated Delta expression in human NPC.
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PMID:Gene expression profiling of human neural progenitor cells following the serum-induced astrocyte differentiation. 1913 Feb 16

Ischemic stroke affecting the adult brain causes increased progenitor proliferation in the subventricular zone (SVZ) and generation of neuroblasts, which migrate into the damaged striatum and differentiate to mature neurons. Meteorin (METRN), a newly discovered neurotrophic factor, is highly expressed in neural progenitor cells and immature neurons during development, suggesting that it may be involved in neurogenesis. Here, we show that METRN promotes migration of neuroblasts from SVZ explants of postnatal rats and stroke-subjected adult rats via a chemokinetic mechanism, and reduces N-methyl-D-asparate-induced apoptotic cell death in SVZ cells in vitro. Stroke induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion upregulates the expression of endogenous METRN in cells with neuronal phenotype in striatum. Recombinant METRN infused into the stroke-damaged brain stimulates cell proliferation in SVZ, promotes neuroblast migration, and increases the number of immature and mature neurons in the ischemic striatum. Our findings identify METRN as a new factor promoting neurogenesis both in vitro and in vivo by multiple mechanisms. Further work will be needed to translate METRN's actions on endogenous neurogenesis into improved recovery after stroke.
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PMID:Meteorin is a chemokinetic factor in neuroblast migration and promotes stroke-induced striatal neurogenesis. 2204 68

A number of studies have shown that damage to brain structures adjacent to neurogenic regions can result in migration of new neurons from neurogenic zones into the damaged tissue. The number of differentiated neurons that survive is low, however, and this has led to the idea that the introduction of extrinsic signaling factors, particularly neurotrophic proteins, may augment the neurogenic response to a level that would be therapeutically relevant. Here we report on the impact of the relatively newly described neurotrophic factor, Meteorin, when over-expressed in the striatum following excitotoxic injury. Birth-dating studies using bromo-deoxy-uridine (BrdU) showed that Meteorin did not enhance injury-induced striatal neurogenesis but significantly increased the proportion of new cells with astroglial and oligodendroglial features. As a basis for comparison we found under the same conditions, glial derived neurotrophic factor significantly enhanced neurogenesis but did not effect gliogenesis. The results highlight the specificity of action of different neurotrophic factors in modulating the proliferative response to injury. Meteorin may be an interesting candidate in pathological settings involving damage to white matter, for example after stroke or neonatal brain injury.
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PMID:Over-Expression of Meteorin Drives Gliogenesis Following Striatal Injury. 2745 46