The area of epigenetics is one of the most exciting and fruitful of neuroscience and in the last few days, we’ve learned of key research that may unlock the door to understanding human brain development! For parents, science teachers, IT theorists and budding biologists reading this blog, the implications are enormous!
For the causal reader, this news release shares some of the celebratory excitement that scientists feel when they’ve hit a research breakthrough.
MADISON – With more than 100 billion neurons and billions of other specialized cells, the human brain is a marvel of nature. It is the organ that makes people unique.
Now, writing in the journal CELL STEM (July 1, 2010), a team of scientists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison has identified a single gene that seems to be a master regulator of human brain development, guiding undifferentiated stem cells down tightly defined pathways to becoming all of the many types of cells that make up the brain.
The new finding is important because it reveals the main genetic factor responsible for instructing cells at the earliest stages of embryonic development to become the cells of the brain and spinal cord. Identifying the gene – known as Pax6 – is a first critical step toward routinely forging customized brain cells in the lab. “This is a well-known gene,” says Zhang, a professor of anatomy in the UW School of Medicine and Pubic Health. “It’s been known for a long time from work in mice and other animals, but what Pax6 does in human development isn’t very well known.”
The new work, conducted in the Waisman Center laboratory of UW-Madison by neuroscientist Su-Chun Zhang, reveals the pervasive influence of Pax6 on the neuroectoderm, a structure that arises early in embryonic development and that churns out the two primary forms of brain cells – neurons and glial cells – and the hundreds of cell subtypes that make up the human brain.
“The fact that Pax6 is uniformly expressed in all human neuroectoderm cells was a surprise,” Zhang explains. “This is a phenomenon that is a departure from what we see in animals. It seems that in the earliest stages of development, human cells are regulated by different processes.”
The finding may help explain why the human brain is larger and, in many respects, more advanced than what is observed in other species. In the laboratory dish, human brain stem cells are chock full of Pax6 and produce a large volume of cortical cells, notes Xiaoqing Zhang (no relation to Su-Chun Zhang), a UW-Madison neuroscientist and the lead author of the Cell Stem Cell paper.
In practical terms, the new finding will help scientists refine and improve techniques for making specific types of neural cells. Such cells will be critical for future research, developing new models for disease, and may one day be used in clinical settings to repair the damaged cells that cause such conditions as Parkinson’s disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis or Lou Gehrig’s disease.
From the scientist’s perspective: “This gives us a precise and efficient way to guide stem cells to specific types of neural cells,” says Xiaoqing Zhang. “We can activate this factor and convert stem cells to a particular fate.”
Su-Chun Zhang: “This is the first time researchers have discovered a single genetic factor in human cells that is responsible for shepherding blank slate stem cells to become a particular tissue stem cell type. Until now, for any organ or tissues, we didn’t know any determinant factors. This is the first.” He adds: “There are certainly other genes at play in the cells of the developing brain,” “You may need additional genes, but they’re in a supporting role. Pax6 is the key.”
The National Institutes of Neurological Diseases and Stoke, part of the National Institutes of Health, supported the new study.
Dr. G. is a.k.a. M. A. Greenstein, an internationally recognized commentator, researcher and coach on best and future practices for "opening the doors of perception." Based in L. A. with networked alliances throughout the AsiaPacific region, she founded The George Greenstein Institute and Bodiesinspace.com to advance global change in creative and holistic learning systems as well as to encourage progressive leadership in related issues of neurotech innovation and sustainable lifestyles. Dedicated to BIG THINKING energized by future focused forecasting and anchored by S.I.T. (Somatic Intelligence Training), Dr. G is a whole-brain thought generator who privileges "interoception" as a search engine for mapping visionary ideas and images. A member of TED, Mindshare.la, and The Neuroleadership Institute and in alliance with the Society for Neuroscience and the Neurotechnology Industry Organization, Dr. G is also a senior teaching associate of the esteemed yogi Donna Farhi and an Adjunct Associate Professor at Art Center College of Design. See http://bodiesinspace.com and Dr. G's brain-based coaching and consulting group @ http://www.greensteingroup.com