First published online 29 March 2006
doi: 10.1242/dev.02330
Development 133, 1735-1744 (2006)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2006
Inactivation of aPKC
results in the loss of adherens junctions in neuroepithelial cells without affecting neurogenesis in mouse neocortex
Fumiyasu Imai1,
Syu-ichi Hirai1,
Kazunori Akimoto1,
Hiromichi Koyama2,
Takaki Miyata3,4,
Masaharu Ogawa4,
Shigeru Noguchi5,
Toshikuni Sasaoka6,
Tetsuo Noda7 and
Shigeo Ohno1,*
1 Department of Molecular Biology, Yokohama City University Graduate School of
Medical Science, 3-9 Fuku-ura, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama 236-0004, Japan.
2 College of Nursing, Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medical
Science, 3-9 Fuku-ura, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama 236-0004, Japan.
3 Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya
University, Nagoya 466-8550, Japan.
4 Laboratory for Cell Culture Development, Brain Science Institute, RIKEN,
Saitama 351-0198, Japan.
5 Pharmaceutical Development Department, Meiji Dairies Co., 540 Naruda, Odawara,
Kanagawa 250-0862, Japan.
6 National Institute for Basic Biology, National Institute of Natural Sciences
Laboratory of Neurochemistry, Center for Transgenic Animals and Plants, 5-1
Higashiyama, Myodaiji, Okazaki 444-8787, Japan.
7 Department of Molecular Genetics, Tohoku University School of Medicine,
Aoba-ku, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8575, Japan.

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Fig. 1. Nestin-Cre mediated conditional disruption of aPKC
gene. (A) Activity of ß-galactosidase in
Nestin-Cre;Rosa26R embryo on a sagittal section at E15.5 is detected
by X-gal staining to show tissue specificity of Cre-recombinase activity. Cre
activity is relatively low in the caudal neocortical region (arrowhead
indicates caudal and rostral boundary). (B) Proteins extracted from the
telencephalon at E13.5 and E15.5 were analyzed by western blotting using an
aPKC -specific antibody (upper panel) or antibody recognizing all three
aPKC members: aPKC , aPKC and PKM (middle panel). Positions
of aPKC (70 kDa), aPKC (70 kDa) and PKM (55 kDa) are
indicated by arrowheads. Signals detected with ß-actin antibody served as
internal controls for equal protein loading (lower panel). Te, telencephalon;
Di, diencephalon; Me, mesencephalon; Mt, metencephalon; My, myelencephalon;
Sc, spinal cord; nc, neocortical region; ge, ganglionic eminence. Scale bar: 1
mm.
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Fig. 2. Loss of aPKC disrupts neuroepithelial pseudostratified
structure. Coronal sections of telencephalon in control embryos
(A-D) and aPKC cKO embryos (E-H) were stained using
Hematoxylin and Eosin (A-C,E-G), with anti-ßIII tubulin antibody (TuJ1,
green) and Ki67 (red) (D,H), or with TuJ1 (green) and DAPI (magenta) (D',H';
arrow indicates TuJ1 staining surrounding and Ki67-negative differentiated
neuron). Brains were dissected at E15.5 (A,E) or 16.5 (B-D,F-H). Higher
magnification view of boxed areas in B and F are shown in C and G.
aPKC cKO embryos display abnormal protrusions in the ganglionic
eminence (arrowheads in F) and lack the anterior horn of the lateral ventricle
(arrow in F). Tuj1-positive cells locate at the ventricular surface (arrows in
H). Scale bars: 100 µm in A,C,E,G; 1 µm in B,F; 10 µm in D,H.
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Fig. 5. Loss of aPKC results in disappearance of neuroepithelial
adherens junctions. (A-D) Immunofluorescence for aPKC
(red), ß-catenin (green) and nuclei (blue) on confocal sections of the
neocortical region in control (A,C) and aPKC cKO embryos (B,D) at
E15.5. Immunofluorescence of ß-catenin alone is shown in C and D.
Dot-like signals of ß-catenin are constantly seen in control embryos
(A,C; arrowheads), but are rare in aPKC cKO embryos (B,D; arrow).
(E-H) Electron micrographs of the ventricular surface of
neuroepithelium in E15.5 aPKC cKO embryos. (G,H) High-magnification
views. Adherens junctions (electron dense lines indicated by arrowheads) are
constantly observed in the caudal neocortical region where aPKC is
still retained (E,G), while only fragmented adherens junctions (arrow) are
rarely observed in the rostral region where aPKC is predominantly lost
(F,H). LV, lateral ventricle. Scale bars: 10 µm in A,B; 1 µm in E,F.
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Fig. 6. Loss of aPKC does not severely alter radial migration.
(A,B) Nissl staining of coronal sections from rostral
telencephalon in control (A) and aPKCl cKO mice (B) at P3. (C,D)
Birth-date analysis of cortical neurons. BrdU was administrated at E15.5 (C)
or E17.5 (D) and sections were made at P3. No obvious differences in
distribution of BrdU-labeled cells (brown) are observed between control
embryos (left panel) and aPKCl cKO embryos (right panel). Scale bars: 250 mm
in A,B; 100 µm in C,D.
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© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2006