Expression of Sox1, Sox2 and Sox9 is maintained in adult human cerebellar cortex

Abstract

Neural stem cells (NSCs) have been found to reside in defined areas of the vertebrate brain, where they can be identified by the expression of specific markers such as Sox1, Sox2 and Sox9. In the mouse, expression of Sox1, Sox2 and Sox9 genes has recently been reported outside of these recognised NSC niches, in the Purkinje cell layer of the adult cerebellum. The present study establishes that expression of these marker genes is also found in the human cerebellum beyond the maturation phase. Expression of Sox1, Sox2 and Sox9 was detected at the mRNA level in both foetal and adult cerebellum samples, suggesting that the maintenance of these markers in adult tissue is also observed in the human cerebellum. Expression of these markers was further confirmed at the protein level on human tissue sections, as Sox1, Sox2 and Sox9 expression was detected in the Purkinje cell layer of the adult cerebellum. The present study demonstrates that Sox1 and Sox2 are expressed in the human adult cerebellum, outside of the characterised NSC niches.