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
. 2013 Jan:52:117-27.
doi: 10.1016/j.mcn.2012.11.004. Epub 2012 Nov 10.

MHC class I protein is expressed by neurons and neural progenitors in mid-gestation mouse brain

Marcelo A Chacon  1 , Lisa M Boulanger
Affiliations

MHC class I protein is expressed by neurons and neural progenitors in mid-gestation mouse brain

Marcelo A Chacon et al. Mol Cell Neurosci. 2013 Jan.

Abstract

Proteins of the major histocompatibility complex class I (MHCI) are known for their role in the vertebrate adaptive immune response, and are required for normal postnatal brain development and plasticity. However, it remains unknown if MHCI proteins are present in the mammalian brain before birth. Here, we show that MHCI proteins are widely expressed in the developing mouse central nervous system at mid-gestation (E9.5-10.5). MHCI is strongly expressed in several regions of the prenatal brain, including the neuroepithelium and olfactory placode. MHCI is expressed by neural progenitors at these ages, as identified by co-expression in cells positive for neuron-specific class III β-tubulin (Tuj1) or for Pax6, a marker of neural progenitors in the dorsal neuroepithelium. MHCI is also co-expressed with nestin, a marker of neural stem/progenitor cells, in olfactory placode, but the co-localization is less extensive in other regions. MHCI is detected in the small population of post-mitotic neurons that are present at this early stage of brain development, as identified by co-expression in cells positive for neuronal microtubule-associated protein-2 (MAP2). Thus MHCI protein is expressed during the earliest stages of neuronal differentiation in the mammalian brain. MHCI expression in neurons and neural progenitors at mid-gestation, prior to the maturation of the adaptive immune system, is consistent with MHCI performing non-immune functions in prenatal brain development. These results raise the possibility that disruption of the levels and/or patterns of MHCI expression in the prenatal brain could contribute to the pathogenesis of neurodevelopmental disorders.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

Substances

LinkOut - more resources