Comparison of neural stem/progenitor cells from adult Gecko japonicus and mouse spinal cords

Exp Cell Res. 2020 Mar 1;388(1):111812. doi: 10.1016/j.yexcr.2019.111812. Epub 2020 Jan 7.

Abstract

The properties and number of neural stem cells (NSCs) in neural tissue are important issues for the regenerative capacity of the spinal cord in different organisms or developmental stages. In this study, we investigated the self-renewal and differentiation potential of NSCs from adult spinal cords of adult geckos (Gecko japonicus) and mice. The sphere forming ratio of mouse NSCs was higher than that of gecko NSCs, and the sphere forming time of mouse NSCs was shorter as well. In addition, serum-induced differentiation of NSCs gave rise to more β-tubulin III (TUBB3)-positive progeny in geckos, whereas NSCs gave rise to more glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-positive cells in mice. We further conducted single sphere RNA-seq for both gecko and mouse NSCs, and transcriptome data revealed that purified NSC populations form either geckos or mice are heterogeneous and stay at various differentiated stages even with similar appearance. Mouse NSCs expressed more glial markers and gecko NSCs expressed more neuronal markers, which is consistent with cell fate determination of mouse and gecko NSCs in differentiation assays.

Keywords: Gecko; Mouse; Neural stem cells; Single sphere RNA-Seq; Spinal cord.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Differentiation
  • Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / genetics
  • Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / metabolism
  • Lizards
  • Mice
  • Neural Stem Cells / cytology*
  • Neural Stem Cells / metabolism
  • Species Specificity
  • Spinal Cord / cytology*
  • Transcriptome*
  • Tubulin / genetics
  • Tubulin / metabolism

Substances

  • Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein
  • Tubulin