Normal sulfation levels regulate spinal cord neural precursor cell proliferation and differentiation

Sulfated glycosaminoglycan chains are important for neural development and regeneration. This study investigates whether sulfate residues alone influence neural precursor cell behavior. The researchers used sodium chlorate, a sulfation inhibitor, to analyze the importance of normal sulfation levels for spinal cord neural precursor cell biology in vitro. The findings suggest that sulfation is an important regulator of both neural precursor cell proliferation and maturation of the neural precursor cell progeny in the developing mouse spinal cord.

• 1
  Addition of sodium chlorate to spinal cord neural precursor cell cultures affected cell cycle progression accompanied by changed extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1 or 2 activation levels.
• 2
  Both morphological and electrophysiological characterization of neural precursor cell-derived neurons demonstrated an attenuated neuronal maturation in the presence of sodium chlorate, including a disturbed neuronal polarization.
• 3
  NaClO3 primarily affects spinal cord NPC proliferation by changing the cell cycle kinetics, resulting in a higher number of neurons already under proliferative conditions.