Development of the neurons controlling fertility in humans: new insights from 3D imaging and transparent fetal brains

Casoni, Filippo; Malone, Samuel A.; Belle, Morgane; Luzzati, Federico; Collier, F.; Allet, Cécile; Hrabovszky, Erik; Rasika, Sowmyalakshmí; Prévot, Vincent; Chédotal, Alain; Giacobini, Paolo

doi:10.1242/dev.139444

Cited by 155 publications

(207 citation statements)

References 81 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

186

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…As a result, 3DISCO and uDISCO-cleared samples have an advantage over other methods such as the iDISCO+ and CLARITY. For instance, using the 3DISCO protocol, our group and others have reported successful clearing and imaging of entire human embryos and fetuses without the need for dissection [25, 40]. 3DISCO-cleared samples result in anisotropic shrinkage and therefore are incompatible with template-based registration algorithms, such as ClearMap.…”

Section: Handling Cleared Tissues: From Physical To Software Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our vision is a collaborative effort of several laboratories to expand this repository into a 3D atlas for the study of human development. Tissue clearing for the study of human development is only beginning, Casoni et al have already shed light on the advantages of using tissue clearing to study the development of gonadotropin-releasing hormone neurons in the hypothalamus of human embryos [40]. These novel studies allow for the first time an in-depth molecular analysis of human development and thus will certainly shed new light on pathological developments of human embryos and fetuses.…”

Section: What the Future Holdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Neuroscience in the third dimension: shedding new light on the brain with tissue clearing

2017

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

For centuries analyses of tissues have depended on sectioning methods. Recent developments of tissue clearing techniques have now opened a segway from studying tissues in 2 dimensions to 3 dimensions. This particular advantage echoes heavily in the field of neuroscience, where in the last several years there has been an active shift towards understanding the complex orchestration of neural circuits. In the past five years, many tissue-clearing protocols have spawned. This is due to varying strength of each clearing protocol to specific applications. However, two main protocols have shown their applicability to a vast number of applications and thus are exponentially being used by a growing number of laboratories. In this review, we focus specifically on two major tissue-clearing method families, derived from the 3DISCO and the CLARITY clearing protocols. Moreover, we provide a “hands-on” description of each tissue clearing protocol and the steps to look out for when deciding to choose a specific tissue clearing protocol. Lastly, we provide perspectives for the development of tissue clearing protocols into the research community in the fields of embryology and cancer.

show abstract

Section: Handling Cleared Tissues: From Physical To Software Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: What the Future Holdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neuroscience in the third dimension: shedding new light on the brain with tissue clearing

2017

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…A recent study using GnRH immunostaining and 3D imaging of solvent‐cleared organs (3DISCO; Ertürk et al, ) described a single‐cell‐thick “ring” of GnRH neurons around the olfactory bulbs in both human and E16 mouse embryos (Casoni et al, ). In adult mice, terminal nerve GnRH neurons were previously described as including “an arborizing network of cell bodies at the level of the central portion of the olfactory bulb”, in connection with the ganglion terminale (Jennes, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neural crest Notch/Rbpj signaling regulates olfactory gliogenesis and neuronal migration

Miller

Benito

Mirsky

et al. 2018

Genesis

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

SummaryThe neural crest‐derived ensheathing glial cells of the olfactory nerve (OECs) are unique in spanning both the peripheral and central nervous systems: they ensheathe bundles of axons projecting from olfactory receptor neurons in the nasal epithelium to their targets in the olfactory bulb. OECs are clinically relevant as a promising autologous cell transplantation therapy for promoting central nervous system repair. They are also important for fertility, being required for the migration of embryonic gonadotropin‐releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons from the olfactory placode along terminal nerve axons to the medial forebrain, which they enter caudal to the olfactory bulbs. Like Schwann cell precursors, OEC precursors associated with the developing olfactory nerve express the glial marker myelin protein zero and the key peripheral glial transcription factor Sox10. The transition from Schwann cell precursors to immature Schwann cells is accelerated by canonical Notch signaling via the Rbpj transcription factor. Here, we aimed to test the role of Notch/Rbpj signaling in developing OECs by blocking the pathway in both chicken and mouse. Our results suggest that Notch/Rbpj signaling prevents the cranial neural crest cells that colonize the olfactory nerve from differentiating as neurons, and at later stages contributes to the guidance of GnRH neurons.

show abstract

“…Several subpopulations of GnRH neurons have been described; in addition, they born from the embryonic olfactory region (olfactory placode), migrate during a developmental narrow window of time (from embryonic day 11 to 18, in rodents and about in six weeks in human) and the GnRH neurons involved in the reproductive functions are very limited in number (from 800 in mouse to more than 2000 in human) [1,2] and scattered into the septo/ hypothalamic region in adulthood.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cell-Based Models to Study GnRH Neuron Physiology

Rigobello

Maggi

2017

MOJAP

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The chance to produce in vitro cultures of neuronal cells has been fundamental for neurobiological studies. The advancing of our understanding on the physiology of the nervous system has been strongly supported by the in vitro cultures of neuronal cells, as both primary cultures and oncogene-mediated immortalized cells.Among the hypothalamic neuroendocrine neurons, gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) expressing neurons represent a unique class; they are generated outside the brain, in the olfactory placode, and during embryonic life they move by tangential neurophilic migration, along terminal and vomeronasal nerves, to the septalhypothalamic region. At this level GnRH neurons undergo terminal differentiation and axonal elongation to make contacts with the pituitary portal vessels in which they start releasing the decapeptide GnRH in a pulsatile fashion, to modulate the function of the reproductive axis.However, the investigation of GnRH neurons has been hindered by their low abundance (800-1200) and their peculiar anatomical distribution. The study of these neurons has been forwarded since '90 by the availability of cell lines of immortalized mouse GnRHexpressing neurons (GT1 and GN cells lines); more later, other cell lines of GnRHreleasing neurons were established from human fetal olfactory neuroblasts and rat adult hypothalamic neurons under conditional immortalization. Later, different in vitro models for the study of GnRH neurons have been described; they include organotypic cultures of olfactory placode or hypothalamic tissue and primary cultures enriched in GnRH neurons. More recently, an new in vitro model of human GnRH neurons has been obtained from primary human fetal hypothalamic cell cultures. A new impulse to the study of these peculiar neurons in physiological, as well as in pathological conditions, will come from the already promising development of GnRH-secreting neurons from neuronal stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).

show abstract

Development of the neurons controlling fertility in humans: new insights from 3D imaging and transparent fetal brains

Cited by 155 publications

References 81 publications

Neuroscience in the third dimension: shedding new light on the brain with tissue clearing

Neuroscience in the third dimension: shedding new light on the brain with tissue clearing

Neural crest Notch/Rbpj signaling regulates olfactory gliogenesis and neuronal migration

Cell-Based Models to Study GnRH Neuron Physiology

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About