Migration toward pathology is the first critical step in stem cell engagement during regeneration. Neural stem cells (NSCs) migrate through the parenchyma along nonstereotypical routes in a precise directed manner across great distances to injury sites in the CNS, where they might engage niches harboring local transiently expressed reparative signals. The molecular mechanisms for NSC mobilization have not been identified. Because NSCs seem to home similarly to pathologic sites derived from disparate etiologies, we hypothesized that the inflammatory response itself, a characteristic common to all, guides the behavior of potentially reparative cells. As proof of concept, we show that human NSCs migrate in vivo (including from the contralateral hemisphere) toward an infarcted area (a representative CNS injury), where local astrocytes and endothelium up-regulate the inflammatory chemoattractant stromal cell-derived factor 1␣ (SDF-1␣). NSCs express CXC chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4), the cognate receptor for SDF-1␣. Exposure of SDF-1␣ to quiescent NSCs enhances proliferation, promotes chain migration and transmigration, and activates intracellular molecular pathways mediating engagement. CXCR4 blockade abrogates their pathology-directed chain migration, a developmentally relevant mode of tangential migration that, if recapitulated, could explain homing along nonstereotypical paths. Our data implicate SDF-1␣͞CXCR4, representative of the inflammatory milieu characterizing many pathologies, as a pathway that activates NSC molecular programs during injury and suggest that inflammation may be viewed not simply as playing an adverse role but also as providing stimuli that recruit cells with a regenerative homeostasis-promoting capacity. CXCR4 expression within germinal zones suggests that NSC homing after injury and migration during development may invoke similar mechanisms.human stem cells ͉ homing ͉ chain migration ͉ stroke ͉ hypoxia-ischemia

Neocortical projection neurons, which segregate into six cortical layers according to their birthdate, have diverse morphologies, axonal projections and molecular profiles, yet they share a common cortical regional identity and glutamatergic neurotransmission phenotype. Here we demonstrate that distinct genetic programs operate at different stages of corticogenesis to specify the properties shared by all neocortical neurons. Ngn1 and Ngn2 are required to specify the cortical (regional), glutamatergic (neurotransmitter) and laminar (temporal) characters of early-born (lower-layer) neurons, while simultaneously repressing an alternative subcortical, GABAergic neuronal phenotype. Subsequently, later-born (upper-layer) cortical neurons are specified in an Ngn-independent manner, requiring instead the synergistic activities of Pax6 and Tlx, which also control a binary choice between cortical/glutamatergic and subcortical/GABAergic fates. Our study thus reveals an unanticipated heterogeneity in the genetic mechanisms specifying the identity of neocortical projection neurons.

Little is known about how neurons in the different layers of the mammalian cerebral cortex are specified at the molecular level. Expression of two homologues of the Drosophila homeobox Cut gene, Cux-1 and Cux-2, is strikingly specific to the pyramidal neurons of the upper layers (II-IV) of the murine cortex, suggesting that they may define the molecular identity of these neurons. An antibody against Cux-1 labels the nucleus of most of the postmitotic upper layer neurons but does not label parvoalbumin-positive cortical interneurons that derive from the medial ganglionic eminence. Cux-1 and Cux-2 represent early markers of neuronal differentiation; both genes are expressed in postmitotic cortical neurons from embryonic stages to adulthood and in the proliferative regions of the developing cortex. In precursors cells, Cux-1 immunoreactivity is weak and diffuse in the cytoplasm and nucleus of ventricular zone (VZ) cells, whereas it is nuclear in the majority of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU)-positive subventricular zone (SVZ) dividing cells, suggesting that Cux-1 function is first activated in SVZ cells. Cux-2 mRNA expression is also found in the embryonic SVZ, overlapping with BrdU-positive dividing precursors, but it is not expressed in the VZ. A null mutation in Pax-6 disrupts Cux-2 expression in the SVZ and Cux-1 and Cux-2 expression in the postmigratory cortical neurons. Thus, these data support the existence of an intermediate neuronal precursor in the SVZ dedicated to the generation of upper layer neurons, marked specifically by Cux-2. The patterns of expression of Cux genes suggest potential roles as determinants of the neuronal fate of the upper cortical layer neurons.

SUMMARY Comparative analyses have identified genomic regions potentially involved in human evolution, but do not directly assess function. Human accelerated regions (HARs) represent conserved genomic loci with elevated divergence in humans. If some HARs regulate human-specific social and behavioral traits, then mutations would likely impact cognitive and social disorders. Strikingly, rare biallelic point mutations–identified by whole genome and targeted “HAR-ome” sequencing–showed a significant excess in individuals with ASD whose parents share common ancestry compared to familial controls, suggesting a contribution in 5% of consanguineous ASD cases. Using chromatin interaction sequencing, massively parallel reporter assays (MPRA), and transgenic mice, we identified disease-linked, biallelic HAR mutations in active enhancers for CUX1, PTBP2, GPC4, CDKL5, and other genes implicated in neural function, ASD, or both. Our data provide genetic evidence that specific HARs are essential for normal development, consistent with suggestions that their evolutionary changes may have altered social and/or cognitive behavior.

We have addressed the role of the proneural bHLH genes Neurogenin2 (Ngn2) and Mash1 in the selection of neuronal and glial fates by neural stem cells. We show that mice mutant for both genes present severe defects in development of the cerebral cortex, including a reduction of neurogenesis and a premature and excessive generation of astrocytic precursors. An analysis of wild-type and mutant cortical progenitors in culture showed that a large fraction of Ngn2; Mash1 double-mutant progenitors failed to adopt a neuronal fate, instead remaining pluripotent or entering an astrocytic differentiation pathway. Together, these results demonstrate that proneural genes are involved in lineage restriction of cortical progenitors, promoting the acquisition of the neuronal fate and inhibiting the astrocytic fate.

Summary Dendrite branching and spine formation determines the function of morphologically distinct and specialized neuronal subclasses. However, little is known about the programs instructing specific branching patterns in vertebrate neurons and whether such programs influence dendritic spines and synapses. Using knockout and knockdown studies combined with morphological, molecular and electrophysiological analysis we show that the homeobox Cux1 and Cux2 are intrinsic and complementary regulators of dendrite branching, spine development and synapse formation in layer II–III neurons of the cerebral cortex. Cux genes control the number and maturation of dendritic spines partly through direct regulation of the expression of Xlr3b and Xlr4b, chromatin remodeling genes previously implicated in cognitive defects. Accordingly, abnormal dendrites and synapses in Cux2−/− mice correlate with reduced synaptic function and defects in working memory. These demonstrate critical roles of Cux in dendritogenesis and highlight novel subclass-specific mechanisms of synapse regulation that contribute to the establishment of cognitive circuits.

Abstract. Leukocyte recruitment is a key step in the inflammatory reaction. Several changes in the cell morphology take place during lymphocyte activation and migration: spheric-shaped resting T cells become polarized during activation, developing a well defined cytoplasmic projection designated as cellular uropod. We found that the chemotactic and proinflammatory chemokines RANTES, MCP-1, and, to a lower extent, MIP-la, MIP-113, and IL-8, were able to induce uropod formation and ICAM-3 redistribution in T lymphoblasts adhered to ICAM-1 or VCAM-1. A similar chemokine-mediated effect was observed during T cells binding to the fibronectin fragments of 38-and 80-kD, that contain the binding sites for the integrins VLA-4 and VLA-5, respectively. The uropod structure concentrated the ICAM-3 adhesion molecule (a ligand for LFA-1), and emerged to the outer milieu from the area of contact between lymphocyte and protein ligands. In addition, we found that other adhesion molecules such as ICAM-1, CD43, and CD44, also redistributed to the lymphocyte uropod upon RANTES stimulation, whereas a wide number of other cell surface receptors did not redistribute. Chemokines displayed a selective effect among different T cell subsets; MIP-1[3 had more potent action on CD8 ÷ T cells and tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL), whereas RANTES and MIP-let targeted selectively CD4 ÷ T cells. We have also examined the involvement of cAMP signaling pathway in uropod formation. Interestingly, several cAMP agonists were able to induce uropod formation and ICAM-3 redistribution, whereas H-89, a specific inhibitor of the cAMPdependent protein kinase, abrogated the chemokinemediated uropod formation, thus pointing out a role for cAMP-dependent signaling in the development of this cytoplasmic projection. Since the lymphocyte uropod induced by chemokines was completely abrogated by

Leukocyte migration in response to cell attractant gradients or chemotaxis is a key phenomenon both in cell movement and in the inflammatory response. Chemokines are quite likely to be the key molecules directing migration of leukocytes that involve cell polarization with generation of specialized cell compartments. The precise mechanism of leukocyte chemoattraction is not known, however. In this study, we demonstrate that the CC chemokine receptors CCR2 and CCR5, but not cytokine receptors such as interleukin (IL)-2Rα, IL-2Rβ, tumor necrosis factor receptor 1, or transforming growth factor βR, are redistributed to a pole in T cells that are migrating in response to chemokines. Immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy studies show that the chemokine receptors concentrate at the leading edge of the cell on the flattened cell-substratum contact area, induced specifically by the signals that trigger cell polarization. The redistribution of chemokine receptors is blocked by pertussis toxin and is dependent on cell adhesion through integrin receptors, which mediate cell migration. Chemokine receptor expression on the leading edge of migrating polarized lymphocytes appears to act as a sensor mechanism for the directed migration of leukocytes through a chemoattractant gradient.