A Perturbed MicroRNA Expression Pattern Characterizes Embryonic Neural Stem Cells Derived from a Severe Mouse Model of Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA).
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an inherited neuromuscular disorder and the leading genetic cause of death in infants. Despite the disease-causing gene, survival motor neuron (SMN1), encodes a ubiquitous protein, SMN1 deficiency preferentially affects spinal motor neurons (MNs), leaving the basis of this selective cell damage still unexplained. As neural stem cells (NSCs) are multipotent self-renewing cells that can differentiate into neurons, they represent an in vitro model for elucidating the pathogenetic mechanism of neurodegenerative diseases such as SMA. Here we characterize for the first time neural stem cells (NSCs) derived from embryonic spinal cords of a severe SMN?7 SMA mouse model. SMN?7 NSCs behave as their wild type (WT) counterparts, when we consider neurosphere formation ability and the expression levels of specific regional and self-renewal markers. However, they show a perturbed cell cycle phase distribution and an increased proliferation rate compared to wild type cells. Moreover, SMN?7 NSCs are characterized by the differential expression of a limited number of miRNAs, among which miR-335-5p and miR-100-5p, reduced in SMN?7 NSCs compared to WT cells. We suggest that such miRNAs may be related to the proliferation differences characterizing SMN?7 NSCs, and may be potentially involved in the molecular mechanisms of SMA.
SUBMITTER: Luchetti A
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4581247 | biostudies-literature | 2015
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
ACCESS DATA