Etude du rôle des sémaphorines et des plexines au cours du développement des neurones granulaires du cervelet

Dans le cervelet en développement, les neurones granulaires (ou grains) prolifèrent au sein de la partie superficielle de la couche des grains externe (ou EGL pour External Granular Layer ) puis se différencient et migrent tangentiellement dans la partie profonde de l EGL, avant de migrer radiairement vers la profondeur du cervelet. Ces étapes se déroulent dans des compartiments distincts du cortex cérébelleux, ce qui facilite l étude des transitions entre ces processus. Les sémaphorines et leurs récepteurs, les plexines, sont des protéines exprimées dans le système nerveux, dans lequel elles contrôlent principalement le guidage axonal mais aussi la migration neuronale. Leur rôle dans le cervelet en développement était quasiment inconnu. Nous avons étudié la fonction de la sémaphorine transmembranaire Sema6A, et des plexines Plexin-A2 et Plexin-B2 au cours du développement des grains, en utilisant des approches in vitro et in vivo, principalement l analyse du phénotype des souris déficientes en ces protéines. Nous avons montré que Plexin-B2 est exprimée par les progéniteurs des grains et qu elle régule, dans l EGL, la transition entre la prolifération et la migration. Par ailleurs, nous avons montré que Sema6A est exprimée par les grains migrant tangentiellement, et contrôle, avec son partenaire Plexin-A2, le passage entre migration tangentielle et migration radiaire. Dans ce système, Sema6A joue principalement le rôle d un ligand pour Plexin-A2. Néanmoins, certains de nos résultats suggèrent que Sema6A puisse également agir en tant que récepteur. Ceci constituerait le deuxième exemple d un mode de signalisation bidirectionnel qui pourrait être conservé parmi les sémaphorines transmembranaires. Toutes ces molécules sont largement exprimées dans le cerveau au cours du développement et chez l adulte, suggérant qu elles participent de manière plus générale à la régulation des processus de prolifération et de migration dans le système nerveux central.PARIS-BIUSJ-Thèses (751052125) / SudocPARIS-BIUSJ-Physique recherche (751052113) / SudocSudocFranceF

Plexin-B2 controls the development of cerebellar granule cells

Cerebellar granule cell progenitors proliferate postnatally in the upper part of the external granule cell layer (EGL) of the cerebellum. Postmitotic granule cells differentiate and migrate, tangentially in the EGL and then radially through the molecular and Purkinje cell layers. The molecular control of the transition between proliferation and differentiation in cerebellar granule cells is poorly understood. We show here that the transmembrane receptor Plexin-B2 is expressed by proliferating granule cell progenitors. To study Plexin-B2 function, we generated a targeted mutation of mouse Plexin-B2. Most Plexin-B2−/− mutants die at birth as a result of neural tube closure defects. Some mutants survive but their cerebellum cytoarchitecture is profoundly altered. This is correlated with a disorganization of the timing of granule cell proliferation and differentiation in the EGL. Many differentiated granule cells migrate inside the cerebellum and keep proliferating. These results reveal that Plexin-B2 controls the balance between proliferation and differentiation in granule cells.This work was supported by National Institutes of Mental Health Grant RO1MH60612 (Identifying Brain Wiring Mechanisms by Gene Trapping) and from National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Grant U01HL66600 (the NHLBI–Bay Area Functional Genomics Consortium) (M.T.-L. and S. K. McConnell). A.C. was supported by the Fondation pour la Recherche sur le Cerveau and the Association pour la Recherche sur le Cancer, R.H.F was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, U.S. was supported by a fellowship from the Dr. Mildred-Scheel-Stiftung für Krebsforschung, and C.S. was supported by Spanish Ministry of Education and Science Grant SAF2004-07990).Peer reviewe

Mice lacking doublecortin and doublecortin-like kinase 2 display altered hippocampal neuronal maturation and spontaneous seizures.

Mutations in doublecortin (DCX) are associated with intractable epilepsy in humans, due to a severe disorganization of the neocortex and hippocampus known as classical lissencephaly. However, the basis of the epilepsy in lissencephaly remains unclear. To address potential functional redundancy with murin Dcx, we targeted one of the closest homologues, doublecortin-like kinase 2 (Dclk2). Here, we report that Dcx; Dclk2-null mice display frequent spontaneous seizures that originate in the hippocampus, with most animals dying in the first few months of life. Elevated hippocampal expression of c-fos and loss of somatostatin-positive interneurons were identified, both known to correlate with epilepsy. Dcx and Dclk2 are coexpressed in developing hippocampus, and, in their absence, there is dosage-dependent disrupted hippocampal lamination associated with a cell-autonomous simplification of pyramidal dendritic arborizations leading to reduced inhibitory synaptic tone. These data suggest that hippocampal dysmaturation and insufficient receptive field for inhibitory input may underlie the epilepsy in lissencephaly, and suggest potential therapeutic strategies for controlling epilepsy in these patients

Plexin-A2 and its ligand, Sema6A, control nucleus-centrosome coupling in migrating granule cells.

During their migration, cerebellar granule cells switch from a tangential to a radial mode of migration. We have previously demonstrated that this involves the transmembrane semaphorin Sema6A. We show here that plexin-A2 is the receptor that controls Sema6A function in migrating granule cells. In plexin-A2-deficient (Plxna2(-/-)) mice, which were generated by homologous recombination, many granule cells remained in the molecular layer, as we saw in Sema6a mutants. A similar phenotype was observed in mutant mice that were generated by mutagenesis with N-ethyl-N-nitrosourea and had a single amino-acid substitution in the semaphorin domain of plexin-A2. We found that this mutation abolished the ability of Sema6A to bind to plexin-A2. Mouse chimera studies further suggested that plexin-A2 acts in a cell-autonomous manner. We also provide genetic evidence for a ligand-receptor relationship between Sema6A and plexin-A2 in this system. Using time-lapse video microscopy, we found that centrosome-nucleus coupling and coordinated motility were strongly perturbed in Sema6a(-/-) and Plxna2(-/-) granule cells. This suggests that semaphorin-plexin signaling modulates cell migration by controlling centrosome positioning