Role of Epigenetics in Specification of Neural Stem Cells

Original: Epigenetic mechanisms regulating fate specification of neural stem cells
Authors: Masakazu Namihira, Jun Kohyama, Masahiko Abematsu and Kinichi Nakashima
Published in:Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences

Over the last four decades, it has been observed that the adult brain like other tissues of the body, also retains stem cells which are known as Neural Stem Cells (NSCs). These neural stem cells are self- renewable and can differentiate into the three major cell types of the CNS: oligodendrocytes, neurons and astrocytes. The NSCs divide symmetrically, to increase their numbers, this occurs during brain development in the early gestation period. The cells obtained from the symmetric division further undergo asymmetric division to produce two daughter cells i.e. a NSC which is similar to the parent cell and a neuron.

Although not proven, it is becoming obvious that epigenetics and its processes such as DNA methylation, Histone modification and non–coding RNA expression, apart from other regulatory factors, may play a major role in ensuring the proper regulation of neural stem cells differentiation into its different CNS cell types.

This article by Masakazu N. et al solely focuses on bringing to light, the regulatory role of epigenetics and the mechanisms by which the epigenetic factors regulate neural stem cell differentiation, and how a disturbance or an imbalance of/in these factors can lead to a complication in the process of differentiation.

Posted by: Priyadarshini Faleiro