Homeobox Gene Six3 is Required for the Differentiation of D2-Type Medium Spiny Neurons

Xiaolei Song; Haotian Chen; Zicong Shang; Heng DU; Zhenmeiyu LI; Yan Wen; Guoping Liu; Dashi QI; Yan You; Zhengang Yang; Zhuangzhi Zhang; Zhejun XU

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Homeobox Gene Six3 is Required for the Differentiation of D2-Type Medium Spiny Neurons

Author: Xiaolei SONG ¹ ; Haotian CHEN ¹ ; Zicong SHANG ¹ ; Heng DU ¹ ; Zhenmeiyu LI ¹ ; Yan WEN ¹ ; Guoping LIU ¹ ; Dashi QI ¹ ; Yan YOU ¹ ; Zhengang YANG ¹ ; Zhuangzhi ZHANG ¹ ; Zhejun XU ¹
Author Information

1. Institute of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital of Fudan University, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and Ministry of Education Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Institutes of Brain Science, Fudan University
Publication Type:Journal Article
Keywords: Drd2; LGE; Medium spiny neuron; Six3; striatum
From: Neuroscience Bulletin 2021;37(7):985-998
CountryChina
Language:Chinese
Abstract: Medium spiny neurons (MSNs) in the striatum, which can be divided into D1 and D2 MSNs, originate from the lateral ganglionic eminence (LGE). Previously, we reported that Six3 is a downstream target of Sp8/Sp9 in the transcriptional regulatory cascade of D2 MSN development and that conditionally knocking out Six3 leads to a severe loss of D2 MSNs. Here, we showed that Six3 mainly functions in D2 MSN precursor cells and gradually loses its function as D2 MSNs mature. Conditional deletion of Six3 had little effect on cell proliferation but blocked the differentiation of D2 MSN precursor cells. In addition, conditional overexpression of Six3 promoted the differentiation of precursor cells in the LGE. We measured an increase of apoptosis in the postnatal striatum of conditional Six3-knockout mice. This suggests that, in the absence of Six3, abnormally differentiated D2 MSNs are eliminated by programmed cell death. These results further identify Six3 as an important regulatory element during D2 MSN differentiation.