TRENDS IN CELL SIGNALING PATHWAYS IN NEURONAL FATE DECISION Edited by Sabine Wislet-Gendebien Trends in Cell Signaling Pathways in Neuronal Fate Decision http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/3445 Edited by Sabine Wislet-Gendebien Contributors Aviva Symes, Sonia Villapol, Trevor Logan, Eri Hashino, Atsushi Shimomura, Michael Fehlings, Madeleine O'Higgins, Jenny Wong, Wenhui Hu, Yonggang Zhang, Sabine Wislet-Gendebien, Tanja Vogel, Ann M Turnley, Harleen Basrai, Kimberly Christie, Roxana Nat, Galina Apostolova, Georg Dechant, Adam Cole, Liang-Wei Chen, Nibaldo Inestrosa, Lorena Varela-Nallar, Uwe Ueberham, Thomas Arendt Published by InTech Janeza Trdine 9, 51000 Rijeka, Croatia Copyright © 2013 InTech All chapters are Open Access distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license, which allows users to download, copy and build upon published articles even for commercial purposes, as long as the author and publisher are properly credited, which ensures maximum dissemination and a wider impact of our publications After this work has been published by InTech, authors have the right to republish it, in whole or part, in any publication of which they are the author, and to make other personal use of the work Any republication, referencing or personal use of the work must explicitly identify the original source Notice Statements and opinions expressed in the chapters are these of the individual contributors and not necessarily those of the editors or publisher No responsibility is accepted for the accuracy of information contained in the published chapters The publisher assumes no responsibility for any damage or injury to persons or property arising out of the use of any materials, instructions, methods or ideas contained in the book Publishing Process Manager Iva Simcic Technical Editor InTech DTP team Cover InTech Design team First published March, 2013 Printed in Croatia A free online edition of this book is available at www.intechopen.com Additional hard copies can be obtained from orders@intechopen.com Trends in Cell Signaling Pathways in Neuronal Fate Decision, Edited by Sabine Wislet-Gendebien p cm ISBN 978-953-51-1059-0 free online editions of InTech Books and Journals can be found at www.intechopen.com Contents Preface VII Section TGF-Beta Signaling and Neuronal Fate Decision Chapter Role of TGF-β Signaling in Neurogenic Regions After Brain Injury Sonia Villapol, Trevor T Logan and Aviva J Symes Chapter Insulin/IGF-Signalling in Embryonic and Adult Neural Proliferation and Differentiation in the Mammalian Central Nervous System 37 Tanja Vogel Chapter The Role of Smad Proteins for Development, Differentiation and Dedifferentiation of Neurons 75 Uwe Ueberham and Thomas Arendt Section Wnt Signaling and Neuronal Fate Decision 113 Chapter Wnt Signaling Roles on the Structure and Function of the Central Synapses: Involvement in Alzheimer’s Disease 115 Nibaldo C Inestrosa and Lorena Varela-Nallar Chapter Roles of Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling in Controlling the Dopaminergic Neuronal Cell Commitment of Midbrain and Therapeutic Application for Parkinson’s Disease 141 Liang-Wei Chen Chapter Regulation of Cell Fate in the Brain by GSK3 153 Adam R Cole VI Contents Section Neurotrophin and Neuronal Fate Decision 179 Chapter Neurotrophin Signaling and Alzheimer’s Disease Neurodegeneration − Focus on BDNF/TrkB Signaling 181 Jenny Wong Section NF-K-b and Neuronal Fate Decision 195 Chapter NFκB Signaling Directs Neuronal Fate Decision 197 Yonggang Zhang and Wenhui Hu Section Stem Cells and Signaling Pathways 215 Chapter Telencephalic Neurogenesis Versus Telencephalic Differentiation of Pluripotent Stem Cells 217 Roxana Nat, Galina Apostolova and Georg Dechant Chapter 10 Regulation of Basal and Injury-Induced Fate Decisions of Adult Neural Precursor Cells: Focus on SOCS2 and Related Signalling Pathways 241 Harleen S Basrai, Kimberly J Christie and Ann M Turnley Chapter 11 Neural Stem/Progenitor Cells for Spinal Cord Regeneration 271 Ryan Salewski, Hamideh Emrani and Michael G Fehlings Chapter 12 Epigenetic Regulation of Neural Differentiation from Embryonic Stem Cells 305 Atsushi Shimomura and Eri Hashino Chapter 13 Neural Fate of Mesenchymal Stem Cells and Neural Crest Stem Cells: Which Ways to Get Neurons for Cell Therapy Purpose? 327 Virginie Neirinckx, Cécile Coste, Bernard Rogister and Sabine WisletGendebien Preface During the last decades, numerous studies about stem cells and regenerative medicine high‐ lighted new therapeutic approaches to treat several neurological disorders It is noteworthy that the current optimism over potential stem cell therapies is driven by new understand‐ ings of stem cell biolology leading to specific cell fate decision The main objective of this book is to offer a general understanding of signaling pathways underlying the capacity of differentiation of several types of stem cells into neurons, during the development Indeed, in this book, we deeply described TGF-beta signaling, Wnt Signal‐ ing, neurotrophin and NF-κ-B signaling and their implication in neuronal fate decision The second objective of this book is to understand how those pathways are altered in pathologi‐ cal conditions We consequently analyzed those pathways in several pathological conditions Finally the third objective of this book is to describe advances in cellular therapy that could be use to restore central nervous system dysfunction in pathological conditions, based on new molecular biology findings Several sources of stem cells and their potential benefits were described in the last part of this book Finally, I would like to conclude this preface by expressing my deepest gratitude to all au‐ thors who contributed to the elaboration of this book Sabine Wislet-Gendebien, PhD GIGA Neurosciences University of Liège, Belgium Section TGF-Beta Signaling and Neuronal Fate Decision 344 Trends in Cell Signaling Pathways in Neuronal Fate Decision Cell type Differentiation protocol Animal model Histology Behavioral aspects Ref Dopaminergic neurons - Parkinson’s Disease WJ-MSCs BM-MSCs SHH, FGF8 (+ brainconditioned medium) 6-OHDA rat SHH, FGF8, GDNF 6-OHDA rat Nothing 6-OHDA rat Survival after 20 days TH positive grafted cells Transient survival No differentiation Decrease of amphetamine-induced [99] rotations over time No [100] Decrease of TH-positive grafted cells apomorphine-induced rotations over time DP-SCs / SHED Forskolin, SHH, FGF8, GDNF BM-MSCs Forskolin, IBMX, dbcAMP and TPA (in vitro) In vitro expression of βIIItubulin, MAP2, and TH [101] No