p38α controls self-renewal and fate decision of neurosphere-forming cells in adult hippocampus

Kento Yoshioka; Kana Namiki; Tatsuhiko Sudo; Yoshitoshi Kasuya

doi:10.1016/j.fob.2015.05.001

p38α controls self-renewal and fate decision of neurosphere-forming cells in adult hippocampus

FEBS Open Bio. 2015 May 8:5:437-44. doi: 10.1016/j.fob.2015.05.001. eCollection 2015.

Authors

Kento Yoshioka¹, Kana Namiki¹, Tatsuhiko Sudo², Yoshitoshi Kasuya¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba 260-8670, Japan.
² RIKEN Advanced Science Institute, Wako, Saitama 351-0198, Japan.

Abstract

Neural stem cells (NSC) from the adult hippocampus easily lose their activity in vitro. Efficient in vitro expansion of adult hippocampus-derived NSC is important for generation of tools for research and cell therapy. Here, we show that a single copy disruption or pharmacological inhibition of p38α enables successful long-term neurosphere culture of adult mouse hippocampal cells. Expanded neurospheres with high proliferative activity differentiated into the three neuronal lineages under differentiating conditions. Thus, inhibition of p38α can maintain adult hippocampal NSC activity in vitro.

Keywords: Adult hippocampus; DG, dentate gyrus; NSC, neural stem cells; Neural stem cell; Neurosphere; RGL, radial glia-like cells; SGZ, subgranular zone; SVZ, subventricular zone; p38α.