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Updated: Jan 31, 2026

Purification of Prominin-1+ Stem Cells from Postnatal Mouse Cerebellum
Published on: April 12, 2020
A Role for Sox2 in the Adult Cerebellum
Nikolaos Panagiotis Mandalos1,2, Ioannis Karampelas3, Marannia Saridaki2
1National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Athens, Greece.
Ablating Sox2 in embryonic radial glial cells in mice resulted in motor deficits, small body size, and cerebellar defects. These findings link Sox2 to congenital abnormalities affecting the central nervous system (CNS) and motor function.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Biology
- Genetics
Background:
- The cerebellum is vital for motor control, balance, posture, and cognitive functions.
- Cerebellar development begins during hindbrain formation.
- Sox2 is a transcription factor critical for neural development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of Sox2 in cerebellar development and function.
- To characterize the phenotype of a mouse model with ablated Sox2 in radial glial cells.
Main Methods:
- Generated a conditional mouse mutant using hGFAP-CRE to ablate Sox2 in embryonic radial glial cells.
- Phenotypic analysis of a single surviving adult Sox2RGINV/mosaic mutant mouse.
Main Results:
- The mutant mouse exhibited motor disability and microsomia (reduced body size).
- A significant reduction in Central Nervous System (CNS) size was observed.
- Specific cerebellar defects were identified in the mutant mouse.
Conclusions:
- Sox2 ablation in radial glial cells leads to severe developmental defects.
- The observed phenotype in mice may model human congenital abnormalities.
- Sox2 is essential for normal cerebellar development and CNS size regulation.
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