Exp Neurobiol.  2011 Jun;20(2):81-84. 10.5607/en.2011.20.2.81.

Changes in the Histone Acetylation Patterns during the Development of the Nervous System

• Cho B
• Kim HJ
• Kim H
• Sun W

• KMID: 2052819
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5607/en.2011.20.2.81

Abstract

Epigenetic modification such as DNA methylation and histone acetylation plays essential roles in many aspects of cellular function and development of animals. There is an increasing amounts of evidence for dynamic changes in the histone acetylation of specific gene segments, but little attempt was made to examine global pattern changes in the histone acetylation in developing nervous system. In this study, we found that acetylated histone H3 and H4 immunoreactivities were relatively weak in neuroepithelial cells in the ventricular zone of developing rat cerebral cortex or chick spinal cord, compared to the immature young neurons in the cortical plate of a rat embryo or lateral motor column in chick spinal cord. On the other hand, adult neural stem cells in the dentate gyrus (DG) of rat hippocampal formation did not exhibit such diminished histone acetylation, compared to neuroblasts and mature DG neurons. These results suggest that the level of histone acetylation is highly dynamic and tightly linked to the neuronal types and the differentiation stages.

Keyword

histone acetylation; nervous system; development; neuroepithelium

MeSH Terms

Acetylation
Adult
Animals
Cerebral Cortex
Dentate Gyrus
DNA Methylation
Embryonic Structures
Epigenomics
Hand
Hippocampus
Histones
Humans
Nervous System
Neural Stem Cells
Neuroepithelial Cells
Neurons
Rats
Spinal Cord
Histones