Growth/differentiation factor 15 controls number of ependymal and neural stem cells in the ventricular/subventricular zone

Late in neural development, the expression of growth/differentiation factor (GDF) 15 increases in the germinal epithelium of the murine ganglionic eminence (GE), especially in progenitors with characteristics of neural stem cells (NSCs). However, the function of GDF15 in this region is still unknown. We here show that apical progenitors in the E18 GE also express the GDF15 receptor and that ablation of GDF15 promotes proliferation and cell cycle progression of apically and subapically dividing progenitors. A similar phenotype was also observed in the adult ventricular subventricular zone (V-SVZ). At both ages, increased proliferation leads to the transient generation of more neuronal progenitors, which is compensated by cell death, and to a permanent increase in the number of ependymal cells and apical NSCs. We also found that GDF15 receptor-expressing cells display immunoreactivity for the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), which is also involved in progenitor proliferation, and that manipulation of GDF15 affects the expression of EGFR in mutant progenitors. Moreover, our data indicate that EGFR signalling in WT and mutant progenitors relies on distinct transduction modes. However, only exposure to exogenous GDF15, but not to EGF, normalized proliferation and the number of apical progenitors, indicating that alteration in EGFR signalling is not the main mechanism by which GDF15 affects proliferation in the embryonic GE. Taken together, GDF15 directly regulates proliferation of apical progenitors in the developing GE, thereby affecting the number of total ependymal cells and NSCs in this region.