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The Expression and Regulation of the Po Gene During Development of the Rat: Regulation of Basal Level and Early Expression by Meng-Jen Lee Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology University College London A thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of London, 1998 ProQuest Number: U642130 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest U642130 Published by ProQuest LLC(2015). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 Acknowledgements I wish to thank Professors Kristjan lessen and Rhona Mirsky for their guidance and enthusiasm throught the course of this work. I also thank Dr. Myrna Dent and Dr. Eric Parmantier for their help and numerous discussions, especially in in situ hybridization technique. I am grateful to Dr. Angela Brennan who contributed to the set up of the neural crest cultures and the study of the regulation of Po protein, and Dr. Ester Calle for contributing to the study of the lineage segregation. I thank Dr Louise Morgan, Dr Helen Stewart and Dr. Ziping Dong for their discussion and help, especially in the early days. I also acknowledge Charlotte Dean, Christiane Zoidl and Mary Rahman for technical support and making working in the lab easy. I am grateful to Dr. V. Pachnis, Dr. D. Ish-Horowilz, Dr. C. Birchmeier, Dr. C. Dickson, Dr. Wilkinson, Dr. G. Lemke, Dr. I. Griffth, Dr. J. Lewis, Dr. D. Henrique for their gift of plasmids, Dr. B. Zalc for the PLP transgenic mice. I want to thank Dr. Jon Clark and Dr. Paul Martin for the micrscope and photography setup. Dr. Sue Manning for sharing her methods, Steve Harsum and C P Ma for their advice on computer methods. Finally I thank my parents and my family for their support over many years. TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 3 ABSTRACT 5 LIST OF TABLES AND ILLUSTRATIVE MATERIAL 7 ABBREVIATIONS 9 CHAPTER 1 : GENERAL INTRODUCTION 11 1.0 Table of contents 12 1.1 PNS glia 15 1.2 The molecular phenotypes of Schwann cells 18 1.3 Neuronal influence on Schwann cells 31 1.4 Wallerian degeneration 34 1.5 Myelination and the structure of myelinated fibres 36 1.6 Other Schwann cell functions 37 1.7 The Po molecule 37 1.8 The neural crest 42 1.9 Gliogenesis and neurogenesis during the formation of the dorsal root ganglion 53 1.10 Axon/Schwann cell interactions during the formation of nerves 55 1.11 The Schwann cell precursor 56 1.12 The CNS/PNS transitional zone 58 1.13 The gut 59 1.14 The placode 61 1.15 The ear 65 1.16 The nose 75 1.17 Illustrative material 81 CHAPTER 2: Materials and Methods 87 CHAPTER 3: The differential regulation of Po gene in the 2 mature phenotypes of the Schwann cell lineage 110 3.0 Table of contents 111 3.1 Introduction 112 3.2 Results 3.3 Discussion 119 3.4 Ilustrative material 121 CHAPTER 4: The study of Po gene expression in the migrating neural crest and its derivatives 126 4.0 Table of contents 127 4.1 Introduction 129 4.2 Results 135 4.3 Discussion 145 4.4 Illustrative material 158 CHAPTER 5: The study of Po gene expression in the development of the inner ear 168 5.0 Table of contents 169 5.1 Introduction 171 5.2 Results 175 5.3 Discussion 180 5.4 Ilustrative material 196 CHAPTER 6: General Discussion 201 CHAPTER 7 : References 208 Abstract This thesis represents a study of the Po gene, the major myelin protein gene in Schwann cells, during development of the rat. The major function of Po is in compaction of the myelin membrane during myelination, but I have found, using sensitive in situ hybridisation methods, that the gene is expressed much earlier than the onset of myelination. My experiments show that the Po gene is constitutively expressed early in development of the Schwann cell lineage, and that in adult nerves the Po gene is up-regulated and down-regulated differently in the two mature Schwann cell phenotypes. I found that Po mRNA is expressed at similar levels in Schwann cells at embryonic day 18, both in the sciatic nerve, where many Schwann cells will begin to myelinate shortly after birth, and also in the sympathetic trunk, where most Schwann cells are non-myelinating. Exploration of Po expression at earlier developmental stages, revealed that Po mRNA is expressed in Schwann cell precursors, the immediate precursors of Schwann cells in peripheral nerves, and also in a subpopulation of neural crest cells. I used the neural crest/ peripheral nervous system lineage, a relative simple model, to understand how cells of the neural lineage differentiated after they were generated from ectodermal cells in the process of neurulation. In the second part of my study, by correlating Po mRNA expression patterns in whole mount preparations and sections at embryonic ages from day 10 to day 14 with known neural crest migration patterns and with expression of neuronal and other neural crest lineage markers, I conclude that Po expression is restricted to a subpopulation of migrating crest cells which are likely to represent a cell population showing early commitment to the glial lineage. Special attention is paid to expression patterns in the forelimb and hind limb regions at embryo day 12, to expression patterns in the head at embryonic days 10 and 11, and to expression patterns in the developing gut at embryonic days 12-14. The onset of Po mRNA expression is compared with that of other molecules known to be specific to the Schwann cell lineage, and it is concluded that Po is the earliest well characterised marker of a glial phenotype. In the third part of the study I describe the unexpected expression of Po mRNA in the inner ear, where it has not previously been described. The expression of Po in the otic placode/pit stage at embryonic day 10, in the otic vesicle at embryonic day 12 and in the embryonic inner ear at later stages of development is described, and compared to several known molecular markers of the development of inner ear. The pattern of Po expression is broad but specific, with boundaries that clearly delineate segments of inner ear. Olfactory glial cells, which are placode derived, are Po positive during development. Po expression in olfactory glial cells persist through adulthood, although the olfactory nerves are not myelinated. List of Tables Table 1-1 Neural crest derivatives 43 Table 1-2 Derivatives of neural crest and placodes, categorised by cell type 63 Table 1-3 Contribution to the cranial ganglia by placodes and crest 63 Table 1-4 Combinatory code of transcription factors in placodes 65 Table 2-1 Restriction sites and polymerase used to generate riboprobes 109 Table 5-1 Comparison of neural crest and neurogenic placode 183 Table 5-2 The earliest innervation of inner ear 190 List of Illustrative Materials Figure 1-1 Molecular structure of Po protein 81 Figure 1-2 Diagrammatic representation of Po orientation in the myelin membrane 82 Figure 1-3 Neural crest migrating pathway in the trunk 83 Figure 1-4 Gross structure of inner ear 84 Figure 1-5 Structure of cochlea and Organ of Corti 85 Figure 1-6 recycling cells 86 Figure2-1 cDNA encoding the entire Po coding sequence 108 Figure3-1 Po mRNA in the neural crest and in developing sciatic nerves 121 Figure3-2 Axon-dependent and reversible down-regulation of Po mRNA in adult non-myelin-forming Schwann cells 123 Figure3-3 Removal of Schwann cells from axons leads to a fall in myelin related Po expression, while basal levels are relatively unaffected 124 Figure3-4 Schematic representation of Po mRNA distribution in cells of the Schwann cell lineage 125 Figure 4-1 RT-PCR of Po in developing embryo 158 Figure 4-2 Po expression in ElO 160 Figure 4-3 Po expression in El 1 ; comparison to TUJ-1 160 Figure 4-4 Po expression in E l2; comparison to TUJ-1, ErbB3 and Krox-20 160 Figure 4-5 Po expression in E l4 161 Figure 4-6 Developing enteric nervous system 162 Figure 4-7 Neural crest culture 164 Figure 4-8 The periodic pattern of Po expression in the migrating neural crest 165 Figure 4-9 A summary of Po expression during the generation of peripheral glial phenotypes 167 Figure 5-1 Po expression in El 1; comparison to Delta-1 194 Figures-2 Po expression in otic vesicle; comparison to PLP/DM-20 194 Figure 5-3 Po expression in E14 inner ear, serial sections 195 Figure 5-4 Po expression in utricle/cochlea/ganglion at E l4 196 Figure 5-5 Po compared to c-ret and BMP-4 in E l4 inner ear 197 Figure 5-6 Po compared to BMP-4 and serrate-1 in E l4 cochlea 199 Figure 5-7 Po compared to c-ret in E l4 utricle and cochlear 199 Figure 5-8 Po expression in developing olfactory nerves 200 ABBREVIATIONS 3’ UTR 3’ untranslated region ADS antibody diluting solution BDH dopamine-p-hydroxylase BMP-4 bone morphogenetic protein cAMP cyclic AMP CNPase 2’,3’,-cyclic nucleotide 3’-phosphodiesterase CNS central nervous system CNTF ciliary neurotrophic factor CSX cervical sympathetic trunk DMEM Dulbecco’s modified Eagle medium DREZ dorsal root entry zone DRG dorsal root ganglia E() embryonic day ENS enteric nervous system Gal-C galactocerebroside GAP-43 growth associated protein 43 GDNF glial cell line derived neurotrophic factor