Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 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.

PubMed Disclaimer

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

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Mackay-Sim A. Stem cells and their niche in the adult olfactory mucosa. Arch Ital Biol. 2010 Jun;148(2):47–58. - PubMed
    1. Garcia-Verdugo JM, Doetsch F, Wichterle H, Lim DA, Alvarez-Buylla A. Architecture and cell types of the adult subventricular zone: in search of the stem cells. J Neurobiol. 1998 Aug;36(2):234–48. - PubMed
    1. Seri B, Garcia-Verdugo JM, Collado-Morente L, McEwen BS, Alvarez-Buylla A. Cell types, lineage, and architecture of the germinal zone in the adult dentate gyrus. The Journal of comparative neurology. 2004 Oct 25;478(4):359–78. - PubMed
    1. Kriegstein A, Alvarez-Buylla A. The glial nature of embryonic and adult neural stem cells. Annu Rev Neurosci. 2009;32:149–84. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Merkle FT, Tramontin AD, Garcia-Verdugo JM, Alvarez-Buylla A. Radial glia give rise to adult neural stem cells in the subventricular zone. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2004 Dec 14;101(50):17528–32. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources