Journal of Biotechnology & Biomaterials
Open Access

Abstract

Mechanical properties of extracellular environment are important in differentiation of neuronal stem cells and maturation of neurons. However, which genes are involved in mechanobiology of neurite outgrowth remains largely unknown. Family with sequence similarity 134 member C (Fam134c) and chromosome 3 open reading frame 10 (C3orf10) are two novel genes differentially regulate axonal and dendritic growth in rat hippocampal neurons. Fam134c is predicted as a membrane protein and C3orf10 is proposed to involve actin nucleation. Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is a key molecule in mechanosensitivity. We hypothesized that Fam134cand C3orf10 involved in mechanobiology of neurite outgrowth under different rigidity of matrix and are up or downstream signaling molecules of FAK. Results showed that primaryrat hippocampal neurons exhibit the rigidity-dependent increases in the length of axons. Knockdown of Fam134c decreases the length of axons on glass dish but increases the length of axons on soft gel. In contrast, knockdown of C3orf10 increases the length of primary dendrites on rigid matrix. Immunointensity of both Fam134c and C3orf10 in cell bodies showed rigidity-dependent decrease. However, immunointensity of Fam134c in axons increases on soft gel but that of C3orf10 has no difference on different rigidity. Immunointensity of phosphorylated FAK (pFAK) exhibits rigidity-dependent increases in primary rat hippocampal neurons. Fam134c and C3orf10 colocalize with pFAK and paxillin on different rigidity of matrix. Knockdown of C3orf10 decreases the expression of pFAK on rigid matrix but not on soft matrix. These results provide findings that novel gene Fam134c and C3orf10 play differential roles in mechanosensing of neurons probably through the interaction with FAK.

Biography

A-Min Huang has completed his PhD from National Defense Medical Center, Taipei and Postdoctoral studies from Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan. She is now an Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology, College of Medicine; National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan. She has published more than 20 papers in reputed journals in the neuroscience field.