Mitochondrial reshaping accompanies neural differentiation in the developing spinal cord

PLoS One. 2015 May 28;10(5):e0128130. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0128130. eCollection 2015.

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.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Differentiation / physiology*
  • Chick Embryo
  • HeLa Cells
  • Humans
  • Mice
  • Mitochondria / metabolism*
  • Nerve Net / cytology
  • Nerve Net / embryology*
  • Neural Stem Cells / cytology
  • Neural Stem Cells / metabolism*
  • Neurogenesis / physiology*
  • Neurons / cytology
  • Neurons / metabolism*
  • Spinal Cord / cytology
  • Spinal Cord / embryology*

Grants and funding

This work was funded by French CNRS, perennial grants (http://www.cnrs.fr/), French Université Toulouse 3, perennial grants (http://www.univ-tlse3.fr/), and French AMMI, grant 5841174 (http://www.association-ammi.org/). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.