engleski

Transcriptome analysis of the human fetal anterior cingulate gyrus

Anterior cingulate gyrus, located at the medial wall of the frontal lobe, is involved in autonomic, behavioural and emotional functions. This region shows specificities in reorganizational processes during development comparing to neocortical and other limbic regions. Still, prenatal development of this region hasn't yet been extensively researched, although it's involved not only in neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizophrenia, but also in other psychiatric diseases. Precise spatiotemporal regulation of gene expression is crucial for normal brain development. Using the publicly available gene expression database (Kang et al., 2011) and Partek Genomic Suite 6.0, we looked for upregulated genes (fold change>2) from 19 PCW (postconception weeks) to 6 postnatal months in anterior cingulate cortex, in comparison to 3 groups of regions: to other limbic regions, neocortical regions and all brain regions. The greatest difference in gene expression between anterior cingulate region and other brain regions was found during midfetal period (19 PCW-24 PCW), which agrees to current knowledge on growing connections in this region. Among upregulated genes, we extracted (using PubMed, RefSeq and GeneCards databases) those that could have or have proven a role in neuronal and glial maturation, establishment of cell- cell connections, synapse formation, synthesis of extracellular matrix components, axon guidance, dendrite growth, apoptosis, neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders in mammals. Using the above mentioned criteria, a selection of 26 genes was made as potential candidates for further analysis on human fetal postmortem brain material (part of the Zagreb Neuroembryologial Collection). We found that genes MEF2C (Myocyte Enhancer Factor 2C) and PCDH17 (Protocadherin 17) are the ones that are most likely to show stained proteins in brain fetal postmortem tissue with currently comercially available antibodies. Performing immunohistochemistry and microscopic image analysis on human fetal brain material will elucidate whether products of these genes play a role in the development of anterior cingulate cortex in humans. We believe that these genes are important for normal development of anterior cingulate cortex and that the obtained data will be used in research of neurodevelopmental abnormalities related to this region.

medial prefrontal cortex ; cortical development

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