2006 Volume No 11 pages 76-85
|  Title: Nuclear Factor-kappaB controls the reaggregation 
                    of 3D neurosphere cultures in vitro | 
|  Authors:  D Widera, I Mikenberg, A Kaus, C Kaltschmidt, 
                    B Kaltschmidt | 
|  Address:  Institut für Neurobiochemie, Universität 
                    Witten/Herdecke, Stockumer Str. 10, D-58448 Witten, Germany | 
| E-mail: b.kaltschmidt at uni-wh.de | 
|  Key Words: Neural stem cell, neurosphere, TNF-alpha, 
                    aggregation, cell motility, Nuclear Factor-kappaB, IkappaB, 
                    neurosphere formation, somatic stem cell, reaggregation, tissue 
                    culture, 3D | 
| Publication date: May 23rd 2006 | 
|  Abstract:  The approach of reaggregation involves 
                    the regeneration and self-renewal of histotypical 3D spheres 
                    from isolated tissue kept in suspension culture. Reaggregated 
                    spheres can be used as tumour, genetic, biohybrid and neurosphere 
                    models. In addition the functional superiority of 3D aggregates 
                    over conventional 2D cultures developed the use of neurospheres 
                    for brain engineering of CNS diseases. Thus 3D aggregate cultures 
                    created enormous interest in mechanisms that regulate the 
                    formation of multicellular aggregates in vitro. Here we analyzed 
                    mechanisms guiding the development of 3D neurosphere cultures. 
                    Adult neural stem cells can be cultured as self-adherent clusters, 
                    called neurospheres. Neurospheres are characterised as heterogeneous 
                    clusters containing unequal stem cell sub-types. Tumour necrosis 
                    factor-alpha (TNF- alpha is one of the crucial inflammatory 
                    cytokines with multiple actions on several cell types. TNF- 
                    alpha strongly activates the canonical Nuclear Factor Kappa-B 
                    (NF-kappaB) pathway. In order to investigate further functions 
                    of TNF in neural stem cells (NSCs) we tested the hypothesis 
                    that TNF is able to modulate the motility and/or migratory 
                    behaviour of SVZ derived adult neural stem cells. We observed 
                    a significantly faster sphere formation in TNF treated cultures 
                    than in untreated controls. The very fast aggregation of isolated 
                    NSCs (<2h) is a commonly observed phenomenon, though the 
                    mechanisms of 3D neurosphere formation remain largely unclear. 
                    Here we demonstrate for the first time, increased aggregation 
                    and enhanced motility of isolated NSCs in response to the 
                    TNF-stimulus. Moreover, this phenomenon is largely dependent 
                    on activated transcription factor NF-kappaB. Both, the pharmacological 
                    blockade of NF-kappaB pathway by pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate 
                    (PDTC) or Bay11-7082 and genetic blockade by expression of 
                    a transdominant-negative super-repressor IkappaB-AA1 led to 
                    decreased aggregation.  
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| Article download: Pages 
                    76-85 (PDF file) Download movies (see paper for details - Results section) | 

 
     
     
     
    