Mouse Parthenogenetic Embryonic Stem Cells with Biparental-Like Expression of Imprinted Genes Generate Cortical-Like Neurons That Integrate into the Injured Adult Cerebral Cortex

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In Vitro Corticogenesis from Embryonic Stem Cells Recapitulates the In Vivo Epigenetic Control of Imprinted Gene Expression

International audienceIn vitro corticogenesis from embryonic stem cells (ESCs) is an attractive model of cortical development and a promising tool for corticaltherapy. It is unknown to which extent epigenetic mechanisms crucial for cortex development and function, such as parental genomicimprinting, are recapitulated by in vitro corticogenesis. Here, using genome-wide transcriptomic and methylation analyses on hybridmouse tissues and cells, wefind a high concordance of imprinting status between invivo and ESC-derived cortices. Notably, in vitrocorticogenesis strictly reproduced the in vivo parent-of-origin-dependent expression of 41 imprinted genes (IGs), including Mest and Cdkn1c known to control corticogenesis. Parent-of-origin-dependent DNA methylation was also conserved at 14 of 18 imprinted differentially methylated regions. The least concordant imprinted locus was Gpr1-Zdbf2, where the aberrant bi-allelic expression of Zdbf2 and Adam23 was concomitant with a gain of methylation on the maternal allele in vitro. Combined, our data argue for a broad conservation of the epigenetic mechanisms at imprinted loci in cortical cells derived from ESCs. We propose that in vitro corticogenesis helps to define the still poorly understood mechanisms that regulate imprinting in the brain and the roles of IGs in cortical developmen

Characterization of l -Theanine Excitatory Actions on Hippocampal Neurons: Toward the Generation of Novel N -Methyl- d -aspartate Receptor Modulators Based on Its Backbone

International audienceL-Theanine (or L-γ-N-ethyl-glutamine) is the major amino acid found in Camellia sinensis. It has received much attention because of its pleiotropic physiological and pharmacological activities leading to health benefits in humans, especially. We describe here a new, easy, efficient, and environmentally friendly chemical synthesis of L-theanine and L-γ-N-propyl-Gln and their corresponding D-isomers. L-Theanine, and its derivatives obtained so far, exhibited partial coagonistic action at N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, with no detectable agonist effect at other glutamate receptors, on cultured hippocampal neurons. This activity was retained on NMDA receptors expressed in Xenopus oocytes. In addition, both GluN2A and GluN2B containing NMDA receptors were equally modulated by L-theanine. The stereochemical change from L-theanine to D-theanine along with the substitution of the ethyl for a propyl moiety in the γ-N position of Land D-theanine significantly enhanced the biological efficacy, as measured on cultured hippocampal neurons. L-Theanine structure thus represents an interesting backbone to develop novel NMDA receptor modulators