XXXX signal promotes proliferation of cerebellar progenitor cells and their oligodendrocytic differentiation at early postnatal stage.

@entity540 @entity14105 @entity1759
UNASSIGNED: The origins and developmental regulation of cerebellar oligodendrocytes are largely unknown, although some hypotheses of embryonic origins have been suggested. Neural stem cells exist in the white matter of postnatal cerebellum, but it is unclear whether these neural stem cells generate oligodendrocytes at postnatal stages. We previously showed that cerebellar progenitor cells, including neural stem cells, widely express @entity1759 at around postnatal day 3. In the present study, we showed that @entity1759 -positive cells prepared from the postnatal day 3 cerebellum gave rise to neurospheres, while @entity1759 -negative cells prepared from the same cerebellum did not. These neurospheres differentiated mainly into oligodendrocytes and astrocytes, suggesting that @entity1759 -positive neural stem/progenitor cells might generate oligodendrocytes in postnatal cerebellum. We cultured @entity1759 -positive cells from the postnatal day 3 cerebellum in the presence of signaling molecules known as mitogens or inductive differentiation factors for oligodendrocyte progenitor cells. Of these, only @entity540 promoted survival and proliferation of @entity1759 -positive cells, and these cells differentiated into O4+ oligodendrocytes. Furthermore, we examined the effect of @entity540 on cerebellar oligodendrocyte development ex  vivo. @entity540 enhanced proliferation of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells and increased the number of O4+ and @entity14105 + oligodendrocytes in slice cultures. These results suggest that @entity1759 -positive cells might be a source of cerebellar oligodendrocytes and that @entity540 plays important roles in their development at an early postnatal stage.
