In November 2022, EMBO Reports published a paper entitled “Rassf7a Promotes Spinal Cord Regeneration and Controls Spindle Orientation in Neural Progenitor Cells” by Prof. Zhao Chengtian’s team from OUC’s Institute of Evolution and Marine Biodiversity, and Dr. Cao Muqing’s team from Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The paper reveals that Rassf7a in the RASSF regulates neuronal regeneration and repair after injury by controlling the orientation of the spindle of neural precursor cells and influencing their asymmetric division.
Spinal cord injury is one of the most serious injuries of the central nervous system, and the difficulty in regenerating nerves at the site of injury in higher animals is a major cause of disability. Compared to mammals, zebrafish have a remarkable ability to regenerate the spinal cord, which is of great importance to understanding and restarting the study of spinal cord repair in humans. By studying the rassf7a mutant, the team found that it has a severe defect in spinal cord repair. Further studies revealed that the main cause of this neuronal regeneration defect is impaired proliferation of neural precursor cells, and that the rassf7a protein is mainly located in the centrosome region and regulates the process of cell division. In order to further investigate the injury defect of mutant spinal cord, researchers used real-time camera to follow the development and differentiation of mutant neural precursor cells. The result showed that the abnormal asymmetric division of neural precursor cells in the mutants was caused by an altered spindle axis, which was consistent with the centrosome localization function of Rassf7a.
This study found that Rassf7a controls the asymmetric division process of neural precursor cells by regulating the orientation of the spindle axis, thus affecting the proliferation of neurons after spinal cord injury. The study not only deepens the understanding of the regeneration mechanism of zebrafish spinal cord injury, but also contributes to the regeneration research of spinal cord injury in higher animals, with a new idea for finding effective methods for treatment and rehabilitation of spinal cord injury.
