Cells in the astroglial lineage are neural stem cells |
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Authors: | Rebecca A Ihrie Arturo Alvarez-Buylla |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Neurosurgery and Institute for Regeneration Medicine, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA |
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Abstract: | A common assumption of classical neuroscience was that neurons and glial cells were derived from separate pools of progenitor
cells and that, once development was completed, no new neurons were produced. The subsequent disproving of the “no new neuron”
dogma suggested that ongoing adult neurogenesis was supported by a population of multipotent neural stem cells. Two germinal
regions within the adult mammalian brain were shown to contain neural progenitor cells: the subventricular zone (SVZ) along
the walls of the lateral ventricles, and the subgranular zone (SGZ) within the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. Surprisingly,
when the primary progenitors (stem cells) of the new neurons in these regions were identified, they exhibited structural and
biological markers of astrocytes. The architecture of these germinal regions and the pattern of division of neural stem cells
have raised fundamental questions about the mechanism of adult neurogenesis. This review describes studies on the origin of
adult neural stem cells, the features distinguishing them from astrocytes in non-germinal regions, and the control mechanisms
of the proliferation and differentiation of these cells. Astrocytic adult neural stem cells are part of a developmental lineage
extending from the neuroepithelium to radial glia to germinal astrocytes. Adult neural stem cells appear to be strongly influenced
by their local microenvironment, while also contributing significantly to the architecture of these germinal zones. However,
environment alone does not seem to be sufficient to induce non-germinal astrocytes to behave as neural stem cells. Although
emerging evidence suggests that significant heterogeneity exists within populations of germinal zone astrocytes, the way that
these differences are encoded remains unclear. The further characterization of these cells should eventually provide a body
of knowledge central to the understanding of brain development and disease.
Work in the Alvarez-Buylla laboratory is supported by grants from the NIH and the Goldhirsh Foundation and by a gift from
John and Frances Bowes. Rebecca Ihrie is a Damon Runyon Fellow supported by the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. Arturo
Alvarez-Buylla holds the Heather and Melanie Muss Endowed Chair in Neurosurgery. |
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Keywords: | Neural stem cells Radial astrocytes Intermediate progenitors Radial glia Subventricular zone Subgranular zone Tumor stem cells |
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