Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling patterns the vertebrate spinal cord by activating a group of transcriptional repressors in distinct neural progenitors of somatic motor neuron and interneuron subtypes. To identify the action of this network, we performed a genome-wide analysis of the regulatory actions of three key ventral determinants in mammalian neural tube patterning: Nkx2.2, Nkx6.1 and Olig2...

In multiple sclerosis Oligodendrocytes are obliterated by the immune system. neural stem/ progenitor cells (NS/P Cs) have the capacity to differentiate into mature myelinating oligodendrocytes. In embryonic mouse cortex oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) are more abundant than the ganglionic eminence. Doing gene set enrichment analysis using DAVID and Panther websites it was shown that Gpr...

We have developed a good manufacturing practice for long-term cultivation of fetal human midbrain-derived neural progenitor cells. The generation of human dopaminergic neurons may serve as a tool of either restorative cell therapies or cellular models, particularly as a reference for phenotyping region-specific human neural stem cell lines such as human embryonic stem cells and human inducible ...

Regulation of progenitor cell fate determines the numbers of neurons in the developing brain. While proliferation of neural progenitors predominates during early central nervous system (CNS) development, progenitor cell fate shifts toward differentiation as CNS circuits develop, suggesting that signals from developing circuits may regulate proliferation and differentiation. We tested whether ac...

During brain development, neural progenitor cells extend across the thickening brain wall and undergo mitosis. To understand how these two completely different cellular events are coordinated, we focused on the transcription pattern of the nestin gene (Nes), which encodes an intermediate filament protein strongly expressed in neural progenitor cells. To visualize nestin expression in vivo, we g...

Cannabinoids, the active components of marijuana and their endogenous counterparts, act on the brain and many other organs through the widely expressed CB1 cannabinoid receptor. In contrast, the CB2 cannabinoid receptor is abundant in the immune system and shows a restricted expression pattern in brain cells. CB2-selective agonists are, therefore, very attractive therapeutic agents as they do n...

Hypoxia can promote proliferation of neural progenitor cells in vitro and in vivo, however, the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain largely unknown. Calcium ions are important for the proliferation of progenitor cells. In this study, we reported that Ca(2+) influx through L-type voltage-dependent Ca(2+) channels mediated hypoxia-promoted proliferation of neural progenitor cells isolate...

Primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNETs) are pediatric brain tumors that result from defects in signaling molecules governing the growth and differentiation of neural progenitor cells. We used the RCAS-TVA system to study the growth effects of three genetic alterations implicated in human PNETs on a subset of neural progenitor cells that express the intermediate filament protein, nestin. The ge...

Approaches to successful cell transplantation therapies for the injured brain involve selecting the appropriate neural progenitor type and optimizing the efficiency of the cell engraftment. Here we show that epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression enhances postnatal neural progenitor migration in vitro and in vivo. Migratory NG2-expressing (NG2+) progenitor cells of the postnatal sub...