Abstract
Studies on the development of central nervous system (CNS) primarily rely on the use of specific molecular markers for different types of neural cells. S100B is widely being used as a specific marker for astrocytes in the CNS. However, the specificity of its expression in astrocyte lineage has not been systematically investigated and thus has remained a lingering issue. In this study, we provide several lines of molecular and genetic evidences that S100B is expressed in both protoplasmic astrocytes and myelinating oligodendrocytes. In the developing spinal cord, S100B is first expressed in the ventral neuroepithelial cells, and later in ALDH1L1+/GS+ astrocytes in the gray matter. Meanwhile, nearly all the S100B+ cells in the white matter are SOX10+/MYRF+ oligodendrocytes. Consistent with this observation, S100B expression is selectively lost in the white matter in Olig2-null mutants in which oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) are not produced, and dramatically reduced in Myrf-conditional knockout mutants in which OPCs fail to differentiate. Similar expression patterns of S100B are observed in the developing forebrain. Based on these molecular and genetic studies, we conclude that S100B is not a specific marker for astrocyte lineage; instead, it marks protoplasmic astrocytes in the gray matter and differentiating oligodendrocytes.
Highlights
The vertebrate central nervus system (CNS) tissues are composed of several types of cells, including neural progenitors, neurons, astrocytes, oligodendrocytes and microglia
Double immunolabeling on P0 mouse spinal cord sections with rabbit anti-S100 protein (S100B) polyclonal antibodies and mouse anti-S100B monoclonal antibodies revealed that these two antibodies marked the same population of cells
In adulthood (P72), the ratio was unchanged in both the cortical gray matter and corpus callosum region (Fig. 5j, k, r). Based on these detailed expression studies, we conclude that S100B is expressed in oligodendrocyte-lineage cells, especially in the white matter region of CNS
Summary
The vertebrate central nervus system (CNS) tissues are composed of several types of cells, including neural progenitors, neurons, astrocytes, oligodendrocytes and microglia. It is generally thought that neural progenitor cells first give rise to neurons, followed by astrocytes and oligodendrocytes [1]. This developmental process is coordinated by a large cohort of intracellular factors and extracellular signals. GFAP is a well-known molecular marker for astrocytes. Besides GFAP, S100B (S100 protein, beta polypeptide, neural), has been used as an astrocyte biomarker for several decades [5, 6]. S100B has been implicated in several neurological diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, Du et al Mol Brain (2021) 14:154
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