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The Journal of Neuroscience, May 28, 2008, 28(22):5641-5653; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1056-08.2008

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Development/Plasticity/Repair
An Essential Role for Frizzled5 in Neuronal Survival in the Parafascicular Nucleus of the Thalamus

Chunqiao Liu,¹ Yanshu Wang,^1,4 Philip M. Smallwood,^1,4 and Jeremy Nathans^1,2,3,4

Departments of ¹Molecular Biology and Genetics, ²Neuroscience, and ³Ophthalmology, and the ⁴Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205

Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Jeremy Nathans, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 805 PCTB, 725 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205. Email: jnathans{at}jhmi.edu

Frizzled5 (Fz5), a putative Wnt receptor, is expressed in the retina, hypothalamus, and the parafascicular nucleus (PFN) of the thalamus. By constructing Fz5 alleles in which β-galactosidase replaces Fz5 or in which Cre-mediated recombination replaces Fz5 with alkaline phosphatase, we observe that Fz5 is required continuously and in a cell autonomous manner for the survival of adult PFN neurons, but is not required for proliferation, migration, or axonal growth and targeting of developing PFN neurons. A motor phenotype associated with loss of Fz5 establishes a role for the PFN in sensorimotor coordination. Transcripts coding for Wnt9b, the likely Fz5 ligand in vivo, and β-catenin, a mediator of canonical Wnt signaling, are both downregulated in the Fz5^–/– PFN, implying a positive feedback mechanism in which Wnt signaling is required to maintain the expression of Wnt signaling components. These data suggest that defects in Wnt–Frizzled signaling could be the cause of neuronal loss in degenerative CNS diseases.

Key words: parafascicular nucleus; neuronal survival; Wnt; Frizzled; neuronal death; thalamus

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Received March 11, 2008; revised April 15, 2008; accepted April 20, 2008.

Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Jeremy Nathans, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 805 PCTB, 725 North Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD 21205. Email: jnathans{at}jhmi.edu

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				C. Liu and J. Nathans An essential role for frizzled 5 in mammalian ocular development Development, November 1, 2008; 135(21): 3567 - 3576. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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