生後脳の新生ニューロンの移動に関する新しい論文が掲載されました。

The Journal of Neuroscience, November 21, 2007, 27(47):12829-12838

Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 5 Is Required for Control of Neuroblast Migration in the Postnatal Subventricular Zone

Yuki Hirota, Toshio Ohshima, Naoko Kaneko, Makiko Ikeda, Takuji Iwasato, Ashok B. Kulkarni, Katsuhiko Mikoshiba, Hideyuki Okano, and Kazunobu Sawamoto

At the lateral wall of the lateral ventricles in the adult rodent brain, neuroblasts form an extensive network of elongated cell aggregates called chains in the subventricular zone and migrate toward the olfactory bulb. The molecular mechanisms regulating this migration of neuroblasts are essentially unknown. Here, we report a novel role for cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5), a neuronal protein kinase, in this process. Using in vitro and in vivo conditional knock-out experiments, we found that Cdk5 deletion impaired the chain formation, speed, directionality, and leading process extension of the neuroblasts in a cell-autonomous manner. These findings suggest that Cdk5 plays an important role in neuroblast migration in the postnatal subventricular zone.

Key words: Cdk5; neuroblast; migration; subventricular zone; rostral migratory stream; postnatal neurogenesis