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. 2012 Jan;7(1):81-86.
doi: 10.2174/157436212799278205.

Role of fibroblast growth factor receptors in astrocytic stem cells

Alma Y Galvez-Contreras  1 , Rocio E Gonzalez-Castaneda, Sonia Luquin, Oscar Gonzalez-Perez
Affiliations

Role of fibroblast growth factor receptors in astrocytic stem cells

Alma Y Galvez-Contreras et al. Curr Signal Transduct Ther. 2012 Jan.

Abstract

There are two well-defined neurogenic regions in the adult brain, the subventricular zone (SVZ) lining the lateral wall of the lateral ventricles and, the subgranular zone (SGZ) in the dentate gyrus at the hippocampus. Within these neurogenic regions, there are neural stem cells with astrocytic characteristics, which actively respond to the basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF, FGF2 or FGF-β) by increasing their proliferation, survival and differentiation, both in vivo and in vitro. FGF2 binds to fibroblast growth factor receptors 1 to 4 (FGFR1, FGFR2, FGFR3, FGFR4). Interestingly, these receptors are differentially expressed in neurogenic progenitors. During development, FGFR-1 and FGFR-2 drive oligodendrocytes and motor neuron specification. In particular, FGFR-1 determines oligodendroglial and neuronal cell fate, whereas FGFR-2 is related to oligodendrocyte specification. In the adult SVZ, FGF-2 promotes oligodendrogliogenesis and myelination. FGF-2 deficient mice show a reduction in the number of new neurons in the SGZ, which suggests that FGFR-1 is important for neuronal cell fate in the adult hippocampus. In human brain, FGF-2 appears to be an important component in the anti-depressive effect of drugs. In summary, FGF2 is an important modulator of the cell fate of neural precursor and, promotes oligodendrogenesis. In this review, we describe the expression pattern of FGFR2 and its role in neural precursors derived from the SVZ and the SGZ.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Signaling pathways of the fibroblast growth factor receptor in neural stem cells. In the MAPK (also known as ERK) pathway, activated receptors lead to activation of RAS and signal through RAF, MEK (also known as MAP2K) and MAPK.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Expression of phosphorylated FGFR (phospho-FGFR) in the subventricular zone (SVZ) and the subgranular zone (SGZ). Note that most of the proliferative cells (BrdU+ cells) co-express phospho-FGFR. V: Ventricle; st: Striatum; DG: Dentate gyrus. Scale bar = 100 μm.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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