Laminar redistribution of a glial subtype in the chick optic tectum

Common astrocytic programs during brain development, injury and cancer

In addition to radial glial cells of neurohistogenesis, immature astrocytes with stem-cell-like properties cordon off emerging functional patterns in the developing brain. Astrocytes also can be stem cells during adult neurogenesis, and a proposed potency of injury-associated reactive astrocytes has recently been substantiated. Astrocytic cells might additionally be involved in cancer stem cell-associated gliomagenesis. Thus, there are distinguishing roles for stem-cell-like astrocytes during brain development, in neurogenic niches in the adult, during attempted reactive neurogenesis after brain injury or disease and during brain tumorigenesis.

Versican in the developing brain: lamina-specific expression in interneuronal subsets and role in presynaptic maturation

Chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPGs) of the extracellular matrix help stabilize synaptic connections in the postnatal brain and impede regeneration after injury. Here, we show that a CSPG of the lectican family, versican, also promotes presynaptic maturation in the developing brain. In the embryonic chick optic tectum, versican is expressed selectively by subsets of interneurons confined to the retinorecipient laminae, in which retinal axons arborize and form synapses. It is a major receptor for the Vicia villosa B4 lectin (VVA), shown previously to inhibit invasion of the retinorecipient lamina by retinal axons (Inoue and Sanes, 1997). In vitro, versican promotes enlargement of presynaptic varicosities in retinal axons. Depletion of versican in ovo, by RNA interference, results in retinal arbors with smaller than normal varicosities. We propose that versican provides a lamina-specific cue for presynaptic maturation and discuss the related but distinct effects of versican depletion and VVA blockade.

Glial cells in the chicken optic tectum

We mapped the distribution of the three neuroglial cells, oligodendrocytes, astrocytes and microglia, in the chicken optic tectum using their specific markers, transferrin binding protein (TfBP), glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and Ricinus communis agglutinin-1 (RCA-1), respectively. Neuroglial cells showed distinct distribution according to their cell types. While the astrocytes were mainly found in the stratum opticum (SO), stratum album centrale (SAC) and stratum fibrosum periventriculare (SFP), with their processes extending throughout the entire optic tectum region, the oligodendrocytes were mainly scattered in the SO, stratum griseum centrale (SGC) and SAC. In the case of the microglia, ramified cells were found in nearly all the layers, with the majority being present in the SAC. This is the first report demonstrating the distribution of glial cells in the chicken optic tectum, and these findings may present a basis for further study.