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World J Biol Chem. Feb 26, 2016; 7(1): 138-145
Published online Feb 26, 2016. doi: 10.4331/wjbc.v7.i1.138
Development of regional specificity of spinal and medullary dorsal horn neurons
Yu-Feng Xie, Xing-Hong Jiang, Barry J Sessle, Xian-Min Yu
Yu-Feng Xie, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto M5S 3M3, Canada
Yu-Feng Xie, Xian-Min Yu, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, United States
Xing-Hong Jiang, Xian-Min Yu, Department of Physiology and Neurobiology, Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, Jiangsu Province, China
Barry J Sessle, Xian-Min Yu, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, Toronto M5G 1G6, Canada
Author contributions: Xie YF performed experiments and data analysis; Jiang XH and Sessle BJ contributed to writing the manuscript; Yu XM designed research, conducted data analysis and wrote the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: These authors claim no conflict interest associated with any of the senior author or other coauthors who contributed their efforts in this manuscript.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Xian-Min Yu, DSH, Professor, Department of Physiology and Neurobiology, Medical College of Soochow University, 199 Renai Road, Suzhou 215123, Jiangsu Province, China. yuxianminyu1981@hotmail.com
Telephone: +86-850-6312423 Fax: +86-850-6712668
Received: July 9, 2015
Peer-review started: July 14, 2015
First decision: November 24, 2015
Revised: December 8, 2015
Accepted: January 5, 2016
Article in press: January 7, 2016
Published online: February 26, 2016
Processing time: 231 Days and 3.5 Hours
Abstract

Extensive studies have focused on the development and regionalization of neurons in the central nervous system (CNS). Many genes, which play crucial roles in the development of CNS neurons, have been identified. By using the technique “direct reprogramming”, neurons can be produced from multiple cell sources such as fibroblasts. However, understanding the region-specific regulation of neurons in the CNS is still one of the biggest challenges in the research field of neuroscience. Neurons located in the trigeminal subnucleus caudalis (Vc) and in the spinal dorsal horn (SDH) play crucial roles in pain and sensorimotor functions in the orofacial and other somatic body regions, respectively. Anatomically, Vc represents the most caudal component of the trigeminal system, and is contiguous with SDH. This review is focused on recent data dealing with the regional specificity involved in the development of neurons in Vc and SDH.

Keywords: Regionalization; Development; Central nervous system; Trigeminal subnucleus caudalis; Spinal cord; Pain

Core tip: The region-specific control of proliferation, survival and differentiation of neural precursors plays a critical role in development of the central nervous system (CNS). Recent data demonstrated that locally released ninhydrin-reacting small molecules are involved in the region-specific regulation of neuronal development in trigeminal subnuleus caudalis and spinal dorsal horn, which are CNS regions involved in pain signal transmission. These findings not only provide novel insights for understanding CNS regionalization and functional organization, but also raise important questions for future investigations that are needed for the clarification of neuroregenerative processes and for the development of new approaches for treating neurodegenerative diseases and pain.