Rho GTPases mediate the mechanosensitive lineage commitment of neural stem cells.

ABSTRACT: Adult neural stem cells (NSCs) play important roles in learning and memory and are negatively impacted by neurological disease. It is known that biochemical and genetic factors regulate self-renewal and differentiation, and it has recently been suggested that mechanical and solid-state cues, such as extracellular matrix (ECM) stiffness, can also regulate the functions of NSCs and other stem cell types. However, relatively little is known of the molecular mechanisms through which stem cells transduce mechanical inputs into fate decisions, the extent to which mechanical inputs instruct fate decisions versus select for or against lineage-committed blast populations, or the in vivo relevance of mechanotransductive signaling molecules in native stem cell niches. Here we demonstrate that ECM-der

SUBMITTER: Keung AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5990277 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature