Biomedical subjects

Julien Y Bertrand

Publications and source records attributed to Julien Y Bertrand.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Three pathways to mature macrophages in the early mouse yolk sac.

The existence of macrophages (Mphi) of yolk-sac (YS) origin has been reported in all vertebrate models. However, the nature of their precursors and pathways of differentiation have not been elucidated. Phenotypic and differentiation potential analyses of YS at 7.5 to 10 postcoital days (dpc), performed in CX3CR1(GFP) embryos, allowed us to discern 3 independent Mphi populations. A first transient wave consisted of mature, maternal-derived Mphipresent as early as 7.5 to 8 dpc. A second wave of committed Mphi precursors arose at 8 dpc (2-4 somite stage) and was followed by a third wave of erythromyeloid precursors (4-6 somite stage). Both types of precursors displayed similar phenotypes and gave rise to CX3CR1/green fluorescent protein (GFP)-positive Mphi, but differed by their differentiation potential, at the clonal level. The combined data of phenotypic, gene-expression, and in situ analyses allowed us to conclude that the previously named "primitive Mphi" corresponded to a mixture of the first transient wave and committed Mphi precursors. Both YS-derived precursors followed a developmental pathway common to adult Mphi and could be qualified as definitive.

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PubMed2005

Hematopoietic stem cell development during mouse embryogenesis.

The progress of the last few years in the understanding of hematopoietic cell development during embryogenesis resulted from a combination of experimental approaches used in hematology and developmental biology. This methodology has been particularly powerful for the analysis of the earliest steps of hematopoietic ontogeny because it allows for the first time the demonstration of the existence of two independent sites of hematopoietic cell generation. Here, we describe the methods used in our laboratories to characterize the phenotype and differentiation potential of the primordial hematopoietic precursors as well as their localization in the mouse embryo. This multidisciplinary approach is required to explore the mechanisms of hematopoietic cell generation.

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PubMed2004

Characterization of purified intraembryonic hematopoietic stem cells as a tool to define their site of origin.

Little is known about hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) development from mesoderm. To gain more information on the intraembryonic HSC site of origin, we purified multipotent hematopoietic progenitors from the aorta-gonads-mesonephros (AGM) of mice. This population, expressing c-Kit, AA4.1, CD31, and CD41, but not Flk1, and mainly negative for CD45, proved capable of long-term reconstitution in sublethally irradiated Rag2gammac(-/-) recipients. We assigned the expression of GATA-2, GATA-3, and lmo2 to AGM-HSC, whereas erythromyeloid progenitors express only GATA-2. This unique combination of surface markers and transcription factors could be allocated in the AGM to the intraaortic clusters and the subaortic patches underlying aortic endothelial cells. Taken together, those data indicate that embryonic HSCs (i) differ from their fetal liver and adult counterpart by the low expression of CD45, (ii) do not colocalize with aortic endothelial cells as previously thought, and (iii) are localized, at 10.5 days postcoitum, in the splanchnic mesoderm underlying aortic endothelial cells, within GATA-3(+)CD31(+) cell clusters.

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PubMed2003

Primordial hematopoietic stem cells generate microglia but not myelin-forming cells in a neural environment.

Finding ways to enhance remyelination is a major challenge in treating demyelinating diseases. Recent studies have suggested that circulating bone marrow cells can home in brain and transdifferentiate into neural cells. To ask whether hematopoietic precursors can form myelinating cells, we investigated the neuropoietic potential of embryonic precursors sorted from the mouse aorta-gonads-mesonephros (AGM) region. This cell fraction is capable of long-term hematopoietic reconstitution and generates colonies containing multipotential precursors and lymphoid or erythro-myeloid progenies. When cultured in hematopoietic growth conditions, a fraction of CD45-positive AGM cells coexpress neural markers such as nestin, the polysialylated form of neural cell adhesion molecule, the betaIII tubulin isoform, and glial fibrillary acidic protein. However, when hematopoietic precursors containing green fluorescent protein were cocultured with embryonic striatal precursors into neurospheres, they maintained their hematopoietic phenotype without undergoing differentiation into neurons, astrocytes, or oligodendrocytes. After intraventricular grafting, hematopoietic precursors integrated into the brain of wild-type or hypomyelinated newborn shiverer mice and gave rise to microglia but not neurons or glia. In contrast, when wild-type embryonic striatal neurospheres were grafted in shiverer, they formed numerous myelin internode patches. Even when neural and hematopoietic precursors were grafted together into shiverer mice, only neural precursors generated myelin-forming cells and synthesized myelin. Thus, embryonic neurospheres have myelin repair properties not shown by embryonic hematopoietic precursors. This suggests that the use of multipotential neural precursors to generate myelin-forming cells remains one of the most promising avenues toward remyelination therapies.

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