Jennifer Zamanian

All Publications

• Genomic Analysis of Reactive Astrogliosis JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE Zamanian, J. L., Xu, L., Foo, L. C., Nouri, N., Zhou, L., Giffard, R. G., Barres, B. A. 2012; 32 (18): 6391-6410

  Abstract

  Reactive astrogliosis is characterized by a profound change in astrocyte phenotype in response to all CNS injuries and diseases. To better understand the reactive astrocyte state, we used Affymetrix GeneChip arrays to profile gene expression in populations of reactive astrocytes isolated at various time points after induction using two mouse injury models, ischemic stroke and neuroinflammation. We find reactive gliosis consists of a rapid, but quickly attenuated, induction of gene expression after insult and identify induced Lcn2 and Serpina3n as strong markers of reactive astrocytes. Strikingly, reactive astrocyte phenotype strongly depended on the type of inducing injury. Although there is a core set of genes that is upregulated in reactive astrocytes from both injury models, at least 50% of the altered gene expression is specific to a given injury type. Reactive astrocytes in ischemia exhibited a molecular phenotype that suggests that they may be beneficial or protective, whereas reactive astrocytes induced by LPS exhibited a phenotype that suggests that they may be detrimental. These findings demonstrate that, despite well established commonalities, astrocyte reactive gliosis is a highly heterogeneous state in which astrocyte activities are altered to respond to the specific injury. This raises the question of how many subtypes of reactive astrocytes exist. Our findings provide transcriptome databases for two subtypes of reactive astrocytes that will be highly useful in generating new and testable hypotheses of their function, as well as for providing new markers to detect different types of reactive astrocytes in human neurological diseases.

  View details for DOI 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.6221-11.2012

  View details for Web of Science ID 000303598900032

  View details for PubMedID 22553043

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC3480225

• Dicer1 and miR-219 Are Required for Normal Oligodendrocyte Differentiation and Myelination NEURON Dugas, J. C., Cuellar, T. L., Scholze, A., Ason, B., Ibrahim, A., Emery, B., Zamanian, J. L., Foo, L. C., McManus, M. T., Barres, B. A. 2010; 65 (5): 597-611

  Abstract

  To investigate the role of microRNAs in regulating oligodendrocyte (OL) differentiation and myelination, we utilized transgenic mice in which microRNA processing was disrupted in OL precursor cells (OPCs) and OLs by targeted deletion of Dicer1. We found that inhibition of OPC-OL miRNA processing disrupts normal CNS myelination and that OPCs lacking mature miRNAs fail to differentiate normally in vitro. We identified three miRNAs (miR-219, miR-138, and miR-338) that are induced 10-100x during OL differentiation; the most strongly induced of these, miR-219, is necessary and sufficient to promote OL differentiation, and partially rescues OL differentiation defects caused by total miRNA loss. miR-219 directly represses the expression of PDGFRalpha, Sox6, FoxJ3, and ZFP238 proteins, all of which normally help to promote OPC proliferation. Together, these findings show that miR-219 plays a critical role in coupling differentiation to proliferation arrest in the OL lineage, enabling the rapid transition from proliferating OPCs to myelinating OLs.

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.neuron.2010.01.027

  View details for Web of Science ID 000275758000005

  View details for PubMedID 20223197

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC2843397

• A transcriptome database for astrocytes, neurons, and oligodendrocytes: A new resource for understanding brain development and function JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE Cahoy, J. D., Emery, B., Kaushal, A., Foo, L. C., Zamanian, J. L., Christopherson, K. S., Xing, Y., Lubischer, J. L., Krieg, P. A., Krupenko, S. A., Thompson, W. J., Barres, B. A. 2008; 28 (1): 264-278

  Abstract

  Understanding the cell-cell interactions that control CNS development and function has long been limited by the lack of methods to cleanly separate neural cell types. Here we describe methods for the prospective isolation and purification of astrocytes, neurons, and oligodendrocytes from developing and mature mouse forebrain. We used FACS (fluorescent-activated cell sorting) to isolate astrocytes from transgenic mice that express enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) under the control of an S100beta promoter. Using Affymetrix GeneChip Arrays, we then created a transcriptome database of the expression levels of >20,000 genes by gene profiling these three main CNS neural cell types at various postnatal ages between postnatal day 1 (P1) and P30. This database provides a detailed global characterization and comparison of the genes expressed by acutely isolated astrocytes, neurons, and oligodendrocytes. We found that Aldh1L1 is a highly specific antigenic marker for astrocytes with a substantially broader pattern of astrocyte expression than the traditional astrocyte marker GFAP. Astrocytes were enriched in specific metabolic and lipid synthetic pathways, as well as the draper/Megf10 and Mertk/integrin alpha(v)beta5 phagocytic pathways suggesting that astrocytes are professional phagocytes. Our findings call into question the concept of a "glial" cell class as the gene profiles of astrocytes and oligodendrocytes are as dissimilar to each other as they are to neurons. This transcriptome database of acutely isolated purified astrocytes, neurons, and oligodendrocytes provides a resource to the neuroscience community by providing improved cell-type-specific markers and for better understanding of neural development, function, and disease.

  View details for DOI 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4178-07.2008

  View details for Web of Science ID 000252242900029

  View details for PubMedID 18171944

• Intersectin 1L guanine nucleotide exchange activity is regulated by adjacent src homology 3 domains that are also involved in endocytosis MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OF THE CELL Zamanian, J. L., Kelly, R. B. 2003; 14 (4): 1624-1637

  Abstract

  Intersectin 1L is a scaffolding protein involved in endocytosis that also has guanine nucleotide exchange activity for Cdc42. In the context of the full-length protein, the catalytic exchange activity of the DH domain is repressed. Here we use biochemical methods to dissect the mechanism for this inhibition. We demonstrate that the intersectin 1L SH3 domains, which bind endocytic proteins, directly inhibit the activity of the DH domain in assays for both binding and exchange of Cdc42. This inhibitory mechanism seems to act through steric hindrance of Cdc42 binding by an intramolecular interaction between the intersectin 1L SH3 domain region and the adjacent DH domain. Surprisingly, the mode of SH3 domain binding is other than through the proline peptide binding pocket. The dual role of the SH3 domains in endocytosis and repression of exchange activity suggests that the intersectin 1L exchange activity is regulated by endocytosis. We show that the endocytic protein, dynamin, competes for binding to the SH3 domains with the neural Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome protein, an actin filament nucleation protein that is a substrate for activated Cdc42. Swapping of SH3 domain binding partners might act as a switch controlling the actin nucleation activity of intersectin 1L.

  View details for DOI 10.1091/mbc.E02-08-0494

  View details for Web of Science ID 000182185200031

  View details for PubMedID 12686614