アクティブボード・２０１１年　８月
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研究発表を行った学会；
・第４４回日本発生生物学会　
　２０１１年　５月１８日〜２１日（宜野湾市、沖縄）

タイトル；The adherens junction serve as a switch for neurogenesis by facilitating Notch-Delta interaction in the vertebrate CNS.

発表者；嶋村　健児　氏
　　　（熊本大学　発生医学研究所　脳発生分野）
Abstract；
Development of the vertebrate central nervous system requires an exquisite balance between proliferation/self-renewal and differentiation of the neural progenitors. Notch signaling plays a pivotal role in regulating this balance, yet how signaling cells interact with receiving cells to turn on and off the signal remains poorly understood. We found that nascent neurons transiently retain apical endfeet at the ventricular lumen to maintain adherens junctions with the progenitors. Disruption of the adherens junctions resulted in aberrant and precocious neurogenesis that was preceded by the down-regulation of Notch signaling. Conversely, prolonged retention of the apical endfeet of neurons by stabilizing adherens junctions led to delay in neuron production. Our results indicated that nascent neurons
would likely activate Notch signaling in neighboring progenitors through their apical endfeet with adherens junctions to inhibit neural differentiation. We suggest that the apical endfeet of neurons serve as a "pace-controller" for neurogenesis, thereby regulating histogenesis of the CNS tissues.