Science: Mitochondrials may promote the transformation of neural stem cells to neuron cells during brain development.

August 15, 2020 // -- Mitochondrials are small organs that are important for providing energy to every cell in the body, especially for brains that need energy to maintain normal function, according to a recent study published in the international journal Science, scientists from the Landers Institute for Biotechnology and others have found that mitochondrials can regulate critical events during brain development. That is, how to regulate the transformation of neural stem cells into nerve cells; mitochondrials experience the fate switches that affect cells at this precise time, twice the length of a critical period in humans than in mice; and the results highlight the important function of mitochondrials, which may help researchers explain why humans develop larger brains during evolution, and how mitochondrial defects can induce neurodevelopmental diseases.
Photo Source: The VIB-Ryohei Iwata brain is made up of billions of different neurons that first appear in the developing brain when stem cells stop self-renewal and differentiate into special types of neurons, a process known as neurogenesis, which is precisely regulated to produce complex structures in the brain, and the researchers believe that small differences in the way nerve stem cells produce neurons may be the root cause of the increased size and complexity of the brain.
in-depth analysis of the process, the researchers conducted an in-depth study of mitochondrials in cells. Professor Vanderhaeghen, a researcher at
, said that diseases caused by mitochondrial defects often cause developmental problems in multiple organs, especially the brain, which we often think is related to the important function of mitochondrials that are not energyed by cells, but this may actually be part of a "story", and recent research in the field of stem cells has shown that mitochondrials have a direct impact on organ development, and now researchers have analyzed whether and how this happens in the brain. In the
study, researchers analyzed whether and how mitochondrial remodeling is linked to the fate of neurons, a highly dynamic cellular device that fuses and divides, so the researchers wanted to know if these dynamic changes were related to changes in the fate of multiple stem cells.
the researchers note that shortly after stem cell division, self-renewing mitochondrials in child cells fuse and subgeneration cells that transform into neurons have high levels of division.
increased mitochondrial division actually promotes the differentiation of the fate of neuron cells, while the fusion of mitochondrials after silk division also re-guides the child cells to the stage of self-renewal.
Therefore, dynamic changes in mitochondrials are important for transforming into neuron cells, and researcher Pille Casimir said the effects of mitochondrial dynamic changes on cell fate selection may be limited by a specific time window, which, interestingly, is twice as long as in mice.
Previous studies have focused on decisions about the fate of neural stem cells before they split, and the results suggest that cell fate can be affected over a longer period of time, even after the classification of neural stem cells;
Finally, the researchers say that human cells may take longer to maintain plasticity than mouse cells, which may help increase the ability of human ancestral cells to self-renew, thereby promoting brain development and enhancing the body's cognitive abilities, and that mitochondrials, as small cells that evolved in cells a billion years ago, may have made a significant contribution to the evolution of the human brain, and later scientists will continue to delve into the key role mitochondrials play in human health.
original source: Ryohei Iwata1, Pierre Casimir, Pierre Vanderhaeghen. Mitochondrial Dynamics in postmitotic cells regulate neurogenesis, Science 14 Aug 2020: Vol. 369, Issue 6505, pp. 858-862 DOI:10.1126/science.aba9760.