First published online August 25, 2006
Development 133, 1803e (2006)
© The Company of Biologists Limited
Developmental plasticity of adult human brain revealed
Contrary to expectations, recent work has indicated that some regions of
adult rodent brains contain neurogenic cells. But what about in the adult
human brain? On p.
3671, Dennis Steindler and colleagues describe how they derived
multipotent astroglial neural progenitors that can proliferate extensively
from adult human brain tissue. The researchers took tissue from patients
undergoing surgery for temporal lobe epilepsy. By applying culture conditions
that favour the growth of neural stem cells, they isolated a population of
adult human neural progenitor cells - identified by morphology and the
expression of markers such as nestin - from multiple forebrain regions
traditionally thought to be non-neurogenic. These cells divided for more than
300 days and generated both glial and neuronal cell types, in vitro and after
transplantation into immunodeficient mice. These results therefore suggest
that cells in the adult human brain retain considerable developmental
plasticity. In addition, the astroglial neural progenitors isolated by the
researchers could provide a source of cells for treating neurogenerative
disorders or damage to the nervous system.
Related articles in Development:
- Derivation and large-scale expansion of multipotent astroglial neural progenitors from adult human brain
- Noah M. Walton, Benjamin M. Sutter, Huan-Xin Chen, Lung-Ji Chang, Steven N. Roper, Bjorn Scheffler, and Dennis A. Steindler
Development 2006 133: 3671-3681.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
