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TISSUE-SPECIFIC STEM CELLS

Concise Review: Pax6 Transcription Factor Contributes to both Embryonic and Adult Neurogenesis as a Multifunctional Regulator

^aDivision of Developmental Neuroscience, Center for Translational and Advanced Animal Research, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan;
^bREDEEM, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan;
^cLaboratory for Molecular Psychiatry, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Saitama, Japan

Key Words. Embryonic neurogenesis • Adult neurogenesis • Pax6 transcription factor • Neural stem cells • Proliferation • Differentiation

Correspondence: Noriko Osumi, Ph.D., D.D.S., Division of Developmental Neuroscience, Center for Translational and Advanced Animal Research, Tohoku University School of Medicine, 2-1, Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan. Telephone: 81-22-717-8201; Fax: 81-22-717-8205; e-mail: osumi{at}mail.tains.tohoku.ac.jp

Received October 20, 2007; accepted for publication April 10, 2008.
First published online in STEM CELLS EXPRESS   May 8, 2008.

Pax6 is a highly conserved transcription factor among vertebrates and is important in various developmental processes in the central nervous system (CNS), including patterning of the neural tube, migration of neurons, and formation of neural circuits. In this review, we focus on the role of Pax6 in embryonic and postnatal neurogenesis, namely, production of new neurons from neural stem/progenitor cells, because Pax6 is intensely expressed in these cells from the initial stage of CNS development and in neurogenic niches (the subgranular zone of the hippocampal dentate gyrus and the subventricular zone of the lateral ventricle) throughout life. Pax6 is a multifunctional player regulating proliferation and differentiation through the control of expression of different downstream molecules in a highly context-dependent manner.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest is found at the end of this article.