Human Molecular Genetics Advance Access published online on November 7, 2008
Human Molecular Genetics, doi:10.1093/hmg/ddn377
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Disruption of neural progenitors along the ventricular and subventricular zones in periventricular heterotopia
1 Department of Biology, Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY 12180 ( U.S.A.) 2 The Wadsworth Center, Albany, NY 12201 ( U.S.A.) 3 Instituto de Anatomía, Histología y Patología, Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile 4 Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115 ( U.S.A.) 5 Department of Neuropathology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115 ( U.S.A.) 6 Advanced Tissue Resource Center, Center for Molecular Pathology, Harvard Center for Neurodegeneration and Repair, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114 ( U.S.A.) 7 Department of Child Neurology and Psychiatry, University of Pisa and IRCCS Fondazione Stella Maris, 56018 Calambrone, Pisa, Italy. 8 Nuffield Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, University of Oxford, Level 4 Academic Block, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, Oxfordshire OX3 9DU ( U.K.) 9 Department of Neuropathology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115 ( U.S.A.) 10 Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Division of Genetics, Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115 ( U.S.A.)
* Correspondence to: Volney L. Sheen, M.D., Ph.D. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, Phone: (617) 667-4078, Fax: (617) 667-7919, E-mail: vsheen{at}bidmc.harvard.edu
Received October 13, 2008; Revised November 5, 2008; Accepted November 5, 2008
Periventricular heterotopia (PH) is a disorder characterized by neuronal nodules, ectopically positioned along the lateral ventricles of the cerebral cortex. Mutations in either of two human genes, Filamin A (FLNA) or ADP-ribosylation factor guanine exchange factor 2 (ARFGEF2), cause PH (1, 2). Recent studies have shown that mutations in mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase-4 (Mekk4), an indirect interactor with FlnA, also lead to periventricular nodule formation in mice (3). Here we show that neurons in postmortem human PH brains migrated appropriately into the cortex, that periventricular nodules were primarily composed of later-born neurons, and that the neuroependyma was disrupted in all PH cases. As studied in the mouse, loss of FlnA or Big2 function in neural precursors impaired neuronal migration from the germinal zone, disrupted cell adhesion, and compromised neuroepithelial integrity. Finally, the hydrocephalus with hop gait (hyh) mouse, which harbors a mutation in Napa (encoding N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor (NSF) attachment protein alpha (alpha-SNAP)), also develops a progressive denudation of the neuroepithelium, leading to periventicular nodule formation. Previous studies have shown that Arfgef2 and Napa direct vesicle trafficking and fusion, whereas FlnA associates dynamically with the Golgi membranes during budding and trafficking of transport vesicles. Our current findings suggest that PH formation arises from a final common pathway involving disruption of vesicle trafficking, leading to impaired cell adhesion and loss of neuroependymal integrity.
@ The authors wish it to be known that, in their opinion, the first 2 authors should be regarded as joint First Authors
![]()
CiteULike
Connotea
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
R. Garbelli, L. Rossini, R. F. Moroni, A. Watakabe, T. Yamamori, L. Tassi, M. Bramerio, G. L. Russo, C. Frassoni, and R. Spreafico Layer-specific genes reveal a rudimentary laminar pattern in human nodular heterotopia Neurology, September 8, 2009; 73(10): 746 - 753. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
R. J. Ferland and R. Guerrini Nodular heterotopia is built upon layers Neurology, September 8, 2009; 73(10): 742 - 743. [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. S. Huh, M. A. M. Todd, and D. J. Picketts SCO-ping Out the Mechanisms Underlying the Etiology of Hydrocephalus Physiology, April 1, 2009; 24(2): 117 - 126. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||

