Alpha-catenin通过与肌动蛋白骨架相互作用参与神经系统的发育过程，但alpha-catenin在神经细胞尤其是放射胶质细胞增殖过程中的具体功能仍不清楚。我们前期研究结果发现，当光照刺激4小时后，蝌蚪视顶盖中alpha-catenin的表达量出现上调，推测alpha-catenin可能参与视觉中枢神经系统的功能，但alpha-catenin如何参与调节放射胶质细胞的增殖还没有相关报道。在此基础上，本项目拟通过全脑免疫荧光、活体延时成像等技术，研究alpha-catenin在放射胶质细胞增殖过程中的作用，探索组蛋白去乙酰化酶（HDACs）和alpha-catenin调节细胞增殖的分子信号通路，揭示alpha-catenin参与放射胶质细胞动态变化调控和与视觉中枢神经细胞交互作用的机制。因此，本项目的实施将有利于人们进一步了解放射胶质细胞的增殖过程以及对视觉中枢神经环路构建的作用。

Alpha-catenin is known to be involved in the development of central nervous system via interaction with the actin cytoskeleton. However, the function of alpha-catenin in regulating proliferation of nerve cells especially radial glial cells (RGCs) remains unclear. Our preliminary data have shown that the level of alpha-catenin in the optic tectum is greatly increased after 4 hours of visual stimulation. These data suggest that alpha-catenin could be involved in the regulation of visual system function. However, the mechanism of alpha-catenin in regulation of RGCs is still unknown. We propose to illustrate the mechanism of alpha-catenin in regulating the proliferation of RGCs. We also propose to demonstrate the signaling pathway of histone deacetylases (HDACs) and alpha-catenin in the RGCs proliferation using whole brain immunofluorescence and in vivo time-lapse imaging. We would clarify the role of RGCs in dynamic regulation of neurite and the interaction with nerve cells in the visual central system. In conclusion, our project would help us to understand the mechanism of proliferation and the contribution of RGCs to the neural circuit construction. We would also further understand the important role of RGCs as a progenitor cell that is involved in the circuit construction.