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Updated: Oct 1, 2026
Lineage-reprogramming of Pericyte-derived Cells of the Adult Human Brain into Induced Neurons
Published on: May 12, 2014
Neuronal differentiation of cultured human NTERA-2cl.D1 cells leads to increased expression of synapsins
Frank Leypoldt1, Marc Flajolet, Axel Methner
1Department of Neurology and Zentrum für Molekulare Neurobiologie Hamburg, Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf, Martinistrasse 52, 20246, Germany.
Abstract:
The synapsin family consists of three neuronal-specific phosphoproteins associated with dynamic reorganization of the neuronal cytoskeleton. Synapsin I and II are implicated in axonal and synaptic differentiation, formation and maintenance, whereas the function of synapsin III is not as well defined. We report a significant transcriptional upregulation of all three synapsins (synapsin I, 2.1-fold; synapsin II, 2.6-fold; and synapsin III, 5.5-fold) by retinoic acid-induced differentiation of NTera-2cl.D1 cells, a human paradigm for neuronal differentiation. The observed stronger regulation of synapsin III might be due to still active neurite elongation and a rather early state of presynaptic maturation at the time-point investigated, as synapsin III was previously found to be highly enriched in growth cones and during early synaptic development.
