0000000000752260
AUTHOR
Jr Gang Cheng
Sympathetic neurons can produce and respond to interleukin 6
Neuronal expression of cytokines is an area of active investigation in the contexts of development, disease, and normal neural function. Although cultured rat sympathetic neurons respond very weakly to exogenous interleukin 6 (IL-6), we find that addition of soluble IL-6 receptor (sIL-6R) and IL-6 enhances neuronal survival in the absence of nerve growth factor. Neutralizing monoclonal antibodies against IL-6 block these effects. Addition of IL-6 and sIL-6R also induces a subset of neuropeptide and transmitter synthetic enzyme mRNAs identical to that demonstrated for leukemia inhibitory factor, ciliary neurotrophic factor, and oncostatin M. Both of these effects are duplicated by addition o…
Loss of Dishevelleds disrupts planar polarity in ependymal motile cilia and results in hydrocephalus.
Defects in ependymal (E) cells, which line the ventricle and generate cerebrospinal fluid flow through ciliary beating, can cause hydrocephalus. Dishevelled genes (Dvls) are essential for Wnt signaling, and Dvl2 has been shown to localize to the rootlet of motile cilia. Using the hGFAP-Cre;Dvl1(-/-);2(flox/flox);3(+/-) mouse, we show that compound genetic ablation of Dvls causes hydrocephalus. In hGFAP-Cre;Dvl1(-/-);2(flox/flox);3(+/-) mutants, E cells differentiated normally, but the intracellular and intercellular rotational alignments of ependymal motile cilia were disrupted. As a consequence, the fluid flow generated by the hGFAP-Cre;Dvl1(-/-);2(flox/flox);3(+/-) E cells was significant…