Embryonic Striatum Research Articles

Generation and migration of cells in the developing striatum

The development of the rat striatum was investigated using a combination of two histochemically distinguishable retrovirus vectors. Using this method, it was possible to identify clonal boundaries within the embryonic striatum and thus determine patterns of proliferation, migration, and some lineal relationships. Several novel aspects of striatal histogenesis were discovered. Striatal progenitor cells do not exhibit a stem cell pattern of division between embryonic day 15 (E15) and E19; a progenitor-progeny relationship appears to exist for ventricular zone and subventricular zone (SVZ) cells; striatal progenitors produce a variety of clone types; some SVZ cells migrate radially, and some migrate tangentially within the SVZ; and radial glia and presumptive neurons can occur in the same clone.

Transient expression of opioid receptors in defined regions of developing brain: are embryonic receptors selective?

The developmental profile of opioid receptors was studied in rat and guinea pig striatum and hippocampus. The two brain regions show different receptor profiles during development, which are characteristic for each animal. Yet, both tissues and animal species share one common feature; the binding of the universal opioid ligand [3H]diprenorphine per milligram of protein is high at the early embryonic period, it decreases toward birth, and then gradually increases to the adult levels. This apparent transient expression of the receptors during the early developmental stage was manifested in the guinea pig as an actual decrease in the total receptor number. As an attempt to characterize the receptors involved in this process, the binding of the selective mu-opioid ligand [3H]Tyr-D-Ala-Gly-MePhe-NH(CH2)OH [( 3H]DAGO) was studied in striatal membranes of young (P1) and adult (P60) rats. Competition between [3H]DAGO and the delta-selective peptide Tyr-D-Pen-Gly-Phe-D-Pen (DPDPE) shows higher affinity of the delta opioid to P1 membranes than to P60 membranes, though the number of delta receptors in P1 membranes is very small. This observation is in line with a previous study suggesting that opioid receptors in embryonic striatum and hippocampus are less selective to various opioids than those of adult brain. An additional difference between adult and embryonic tissue was observed on Scatchard analysis of [3H]DAGO binding; striatum P60 membranes exhibit one binding site with a KD of 0.8 +/- 0.1 nM and Hill coefficient of 0.96, whereas striatum P1 membranes bind the peptide in an apparent cooperative fashion with an overall Hill coefficient of 1.30.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The expression of the c-src+ proto-oncogene mRNA in foetal striatal tissue grafts

We have studied by in situ hybridization the mRNA expression of the pp60c-src proto-oncogene in grafts of foetal striatal neurons implanted into the ibotenic acid lesioned adult rat neostriatum. Animals were studied at 5, 10, 15, 30 days and 4 months after transplantation. Using 35S-labelled specific oligonucleotide probes, high levels of mRNA for pp60c-src+ but not pp60c-src- were found in the normal embryonic striatum and in striatal grafts up to 1 month after implantation; no hybridization signal was obtained in the normal adult striatum or in 4-month old grafts. The data suggest that pp60c-src+ is highly expressed in developing, but not mature, neurons and may play a fundamental role in the maturation and differentiation of grafted embryonic striatal neurons.

Compartmentalization of the embryonic striatum after intraocular transplantation

In order to assess the intrinsic potential of the isolated embryonic striatum to develop its adult patch and matrix compartments, embryonic day 16 striata were transplanted into the anterior eye chamber of adult host rats. After 2–12 weeks of survival the transplants showed heterogeneous and in the majority of cases complementary distributions of opiate receptor binding and acetylcholinesterase staining, which mark the patch and matrix compartments of the adult striatum, respectively. The complementarity of patch and matrix markers in the transplants shows that the transplants do compartmentalize. However, the density of the markers in the transplants did not reach the levels seen in the adult striatum. The results suggest that the commitment of cells to a striatal compartment is a very early event in the embryonic development of the forebrain.

Embryonic substantia nigra grafts innervate embryonic striatal co-grafts in preference to mature host striatum

Embryonic substantia nigra grafts partially reinnervate the dopamine-denervated corpus striatum when implanted adjacent to that structure. This reinnervation is generally limited to a small portion of the denervated striatum and does not completely compensate for the behavioral effects of a 6-hydroxydopamine lesion of the substantia nigra. This limited reinnervation may be due to the fact that adult denervated striatum is not an ideal target for dopaminergic neurites. To test this hypothesis, embryonic striatum and embryonic substantia nigra were implanted together into the lateral ventricle of adult rats, adjacent to the denervated striatum. Five months after transplantation, fluorescence histochemistry showed that the embryonic striatal grafts were exclusively reinnervated with little or no reinnervation of the adult host striatum. When substantia nigra was implanted without embryonic striatal co-grafts, reinnervation of the host striatum was observed. We conclude that embryonic striatum is a better target tissue than adult denervated striatum for developing dopaminergic neurites and hypothesize that this difference may be due to the presence or the absence of specific trophic factors.

The development of a Patchy organization of the rat striatum

The rat striatum can be divided into patch and matrix compartments. Patches, as marked by high opiate receptor binding, first emerge perinatally from a dense, diffuse field of striatal opiate binding. Our quantitative analysis revealed that the patch compartment formed its peak proportion of the total striatal area at postnatal day 7. After this time, patches occupied a smaller proportion of the striatum, reflecting the fact that the number of patches and mean area per patch reached near adult levels during the first postnatal week, yet the volume of the striatum as a whole continued to increase for several weeks postnatally. Results from transplant and early postnatal lesion experiments suggested that connections between the striatum and other brain areas are important for the formation and/or maintenance of the patch and matrix compartments. Transplants of embryonic striatum to cavities in the cortex of young adult hosts developed diffuse opiate receptor binding but not dopamine receptor binding. Significantly, the opiate receptor binding seen in the transplants was never organized into the dense patches normally seen in the adult striatum. In a few transplants areas of relatively higher opiate receptor binding occurred in areas of relatively low neuronal cell density, as is seen in early normal development, but the dense adult patches never developed. Coronal diencephalic hemisections, but not decortications, in the early postnatal period produced drastic shrinkage of the striatum and, more importantly, a large decrease in opiate receptor patches when expressed as a proportion of total striatal area. Neuronal connections with more caudal brain structures may play a role in the final differentiation and maintenance of the striatal compartments.

Differential regulation of cholinergic and peptidergic development in the rat striatum in culture

The development of substance P, somatostatin, and choline acetyltransferase activity was examined in embryonic rat striatum in vivo and in culture. The study was undertaken to help define mechanisms by which diverse neurotransmitter phenotypes may be regulated within the same structure in the brain. Choline acetyltransferase (CAT) was present in striatum before gestational Day 13.5 (E13.5), and enzyme levels increased continually between E13.5 and birth. By contrast, substance P (SP) and somatostatin (SS) did not develop in vivo until E15, and peptide levels fluctuated between E15 and birth, indicating that striatal peptidergic and cholinergic development were regulated differently. To define mechanisms mediating the differential regulation of striatal peptidergic and cholinergic neurons, neurotransmitter development was examined in embryonic striatum in vitro. Cultured striatal neurons from E13.5 embryos expressed substance P and somatostatin de novo after several days in culture, and peptide levels and CAT activity increased significantly in vitro. Each transmitter phenotype was regulated in vitro by a different constellation of environmental factors, and many factors differentially influenced SP, SS, and CAT development. For example, coculture of striatum with a target tissue, the ventral mesencephalon (substantia nigra), increased CAT activity and SP levels but had no significant effect on levels of SS. Moreover, there were widely differing effects on CAT, SP, and SS development of medium conditioned by exposure to a variety of cell types, indicating that the three transmitter systems were regulated by different soluble factors. Potassium-induced membrane depolarization also exerted different effects on the different transmitter traits, elevating CAT activity but decreasing SP and SS. Finally, insulin was required for the survival of SP-containing neurons, but not for the survival of SS- or CAT-containing neurons, indicating that the survival of different populations of striatal neurons was dependent upon different factors. Our observations suggest that different populations of neurons in the striatum are regulated by different mechanisms, so that alterations in the environment may produce strikingly diverse responses in the development of different phenotypic traits within the same structure.

The development and ultrastructure of previously dissociated embryonic chick corpus striatum cultured on feeder layers of liver cells

Embryonic chick corpus striatum neurons were dissociated and maintained on liver feeder layers in culture. Although some large dark-cored vesicles were present in many nerve processes and presynaptic boutons they were substantially less numerous than chick spinal cord neurons grown under identical conditions. Paraformaldehyde-induced fluorescence, although observed in a few culture batches in aggregates of corpus striatum neurons, was otherwise absent and no decisive evidence was obtained to suggest that fluorescent corpus striatum neurons were commonly developed on liver feeder layers in culture. Microtubules filled most cell bodies and nerve processes, and extended well into synaptic boutons often approaching the active zones. They were much more abundant in cultures of corpus striatum than in comparable spinal cord preparations and formed the principal organelle of many nerve fibres. These differences between chick spinal cord and corpus striatum neurons are both interesting and difficult to interpret. It is possible that fewer appropriate cholinergic neurons are available for transformation into adrenergic neurons within the corpus striatum, and that excessive numbers of dark-cored vesicles indicate only a greatly increased rate of acetylcholine production and storage.