The key of Neurodegenerative diseases reverse growth - the differentiation of nerve cells

Neurodegenerative diseases are associated with the loss of neurons and/or the myelin sheaths. The disease worsens as time goes on, and leading to dysfunction. Parkinson's disease (PD), Alzheimer's disease (AD), Huntington's disease (HD) and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) are the most common neurodegeneration diseases.

For a long time, people thought that once nerve cells in the brains of adult mammals are damaged, they are unable to regenerate. This thought led to the major limitation in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. The principle of current treatment is to improve symptoms and slow the progression of the disease. In recent years, great progress has been made in the field of neurobiology. In particular, the research on the regeneration mechanism of neural stem cell (NSC) in adult brain had gotten great processes. The differentiation of neural stem cells brings hope for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

Neural stem cells can differentiate into various nerve cells, but how do they differentiate into the nerve cells we need? For example, in the treatment of Parkinson's disease, how to control the differentiation of neural stem cells into dopamine neurons? These are difficult problems must be solved. Currently, most studied effects of neural stem cell differentiation are the Notch signaling pathway, bHLH gene, cytokines, and so on. When neural stem cells are induced to differentiate into different nerve cells, they need to be identified. The expression of important functional proteins in cells is the key to the identification.

1. Neural stem cell markers (Including Nestin, CD133, PSA-NCAM, p75 Neurotrophin R, Aggrecan, Notch1, SSEA1, Bmp2, CNTF, EMX2, Vimentin, Musashi, Sox-1, Sox-2, etc.. The properties and functions of some markers are listed below)

(1) Nestin: Mainly expressed in stem cells of the central nervous system, and it is  almost not expressed in mature central nerve cells.

(2) CD133: Glycoprotein with MW of 120kDa, it consists of 5 transmembrane domains. This protein was initially identified by AC133 monoclonal antibody. Human neural stem cells can be isolated directly by using anti-cd133 antibody.

(3) PSA-NCAM (Polysialic acid-neural cell adhesion molecule): During the embryonic period, there are highly Sialylated NCAM and PSA-NCAM, they play an important role in neuronal development. 74 PSA-NCAM may be involved in synaptic rearrangement and plasticity. Prenatal brain precursor cells with 77 PSA-NCAM positive will develop into a glial cell, while thyroxine will regulate them to be oligodendrocytes.

(4) p75 Neurotrophin R (NTR): p75 NTR is called the low affinity nerve growth factor receptor, it belongs to type 1 transmembrane TNF receptor superfamily. This protein can bind to NGF, BDNF, NT-3 and NT-4, but has a low affinity. TrkC receptor and p75 NTR synergistically participate in the development of the nervous system. Neural crest stem cells (NCSCs) can be isolated due to the expression of p75NTR on the cell surface. p75NTR+ NCSCs freshly isolated from peripheral nerve tissue can self-renew in vivo and in vitro and produce neurons and neurogliocytes. P75NTR + cells derived from nerve epithelium have the ability to differentiate into neurons, smooth muscle cells, and schwann cells in culture.

2. Early neuronal markers (Including Tubulin Beta-4, Noggin, Neurosphere Embryoid body, and so on. Take Tubulin Beta-4 as an example)

Tubulin Beta-4 is one of the earliest neuronal markers expressed in primitive nerve epithelium. As a specific marker of neurons, it is widely used in neurobiological research.

3. Neuronal markers

A. Neuronal cell body markers (Including Neurofilament, NeuN, Neuronal specific enolase, Ataxin7, CNS gp130, Choline Acetyltransferase, Coilin, Doublecortin, ELAVL, PG P9-5, Tyrosine Hydroxylase, truncated Garp, p75, etc.. The properties and functions of some markers are listed below)

(1) Neurofilament (NF): A neuron specific intermediate filament protein (10-12nm), it can be divided into NF-L (68 kDa), NF-M (160 kDa) and NF-H (200 kDa). They fuse with other intermediate filament protein to form a network, which is the main components of the neuronal skeleton.

(2) NeuN: In immunocytochemical experiments, it is a marker that identifies neurons.

B. Neuronal axon markers (Including Tau, TUC-4, etc..) 

(1) Tau: It is the most abundant microtubule-associated protein. Microtubule system is the nerve cell cytoskeleton component, it is composed of microtubulin and microtubule-associated proteins. Tau protein can help maintain the structure of the axon. In the brain of Alzheimer's patients, Tau protein is abnormally hyperphosphorylated.

(2) TUC-4: This protein is involved in axonal growth.

C. Neuronal dendritic markers (Including Drebrin, MAP, SAP102, etc.. Take MAP as an example)

Microtubule-associated protein (MAP): As an important component of neuronal cytoskeleton, it plays an important role in different stages of nervous system development and regeneration. MAP5 is an early microtubule-associated protein, it is highly expressed in the brains of embryonic and newborn animals, it degrades gradually along with the mature of the brain. MAP5 plays an important role in guiding the growth of neurites. In addition, MAP2 was degraded by tissue protease D with age, it has different expression levels in different types of neurons.

4. Astrocyte markers (Including Glial fibrillary acidic protein, S-100, etc.. Take Glial fibrillary acidic protein as an example)

Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP): It is a member of type III intermediate filament protein family, it has a high expression in astrocytes. For satellite cells and some schwann cells in the peripheral nervous system, this protein has a low expression. Anti-GFAP antibodies are often used as markers of astrocytes for neurobiological research. In addition, for some brain-derived tumors derived from astrocytes, the expression of GFAP is also high.

5. Oligodendrocyte markers (Including Myelin basic protein, O4, O1, etc.. Take Myelin basic protein as an example)

Myelin basic protein (MBP): Located in the dense myelin sheath and nucleus pulposus, MBP can be used as a marker of oligodendrocytes, schwann cells and schwann cell tumors, as well as a marker of nerve cell injury. Multiple sclerosis and leukodystrophy are related to the demyelination of nervous system.

In order to help researchers to study on nervous system-related diseases, Cloud-Clone has developed a series of neural stem cell differentiation markers related products, including proteins, antibodies and ELISA kits. The following is the product list of some markers.

For more information, please visit: http://www.cloud-clone.us/