Neural stem cell self-renewal, neurogenesis, and cell fate determination are processes that control the generation of specific classes of neurons at the correct place and time. The transcription factor Pax6 is essential for neural stem cell proliferation, multipotency, and neurogenesis in many regions of the central nervous system, including the cerebral cortex. We used Pax6 as an entry point t...

Neural stem and progenitor cells are located in the subependyma of the adult forebrain. An increase in adult subependymal cell proliferation is reported after various kinds of brain injury. We demonstrate an expansion of neural precursor cells in the postnatal subependyma in a murine genetic disease model of Huntington's disease (HD), the R6/2 mouse. We used the in vitro neurosphere assay as an...

PURPOSE Neural stem cell transplantation as a brain repair strategy is a very promising technology. However, despite many attempts, the clinical success remains very deceiving. Despite clear evidence that sexual dimorphism rules many aspects of human biology, the occurrence of a sex difference in neural stem cell biology is largely understudied. Herein, we propose to determine whether gender is...

Transplanted neural stem/precursor cells possess peculiar therapeutic plasticity and can simultaneously instruct several therapeutic mechanisms in addition to cell replacement. Here, we interrogated the therapeutic plasticity of neural stem/precursor cells after their focal implantation in the severely contused spinal cord. We injected syngeneic neural stem/precursor cells at the proximal and d...

BACKGROUND Icariin (ICA), a major ingredient of Epimediumbrevicornum, has various pharmacological activities including central nervous system protective functions such as the improvement of learning and memory function in mice models of Alzheimer's disease. It has been reported that ICA can promote regeneration of peripheral nerve and functional recovery. The purpose of this study was to invest...

Stem cell therapies seem to be an appropriate tool for the treatment of a variety of diseases, especially when a substantial cell loss leads to a severe clinical impact. This is the case in most neuronal cell losses. Unfortunately, adequate neural stem cell sources are hard to find and current alternatives, such as induced programmed stem cells, still have incalculable risks. Evidence of neurog...

The adult mouse forebrain, which exhibits substantial ongoing cell genesis, contains self-renewing multipotent neural stem cells that respond to epidermal growth factor (EGF), but the adult spinal cord, which exhibits limited cell genesis, does not. Spinal cord development is a process characterized by defined periods of cell histogenesis. Thus, in the present study we asked whether EGF-respons...

Neural stem cells are the origins of neurons and glia and generate all the differentiated neural cells of the mammalian central nervous system via the formation of intermediate precursors. Although less frequent, neural stem cells persevere in the postnatal brain where they generate neurons and glia. Adult neurogenesis occurs throughout life in a few limited brain regions. Regulation of neural ...

Our goal in this review is to explore the relationship between Drosophila and vertebrate neural stem cell development by comparing progress in each system with the aim of answering several central questions in stem cell biology: (a) How are stem cells formed? (b) Do stem cells divide symmetrically or asymmetrically? (c) How is stem cell fate maintained? (d) How is stem cell differentiation init...

The recent identification and characterization of neural progenitors with stem cell properties has opened new avenues that may be useful for treating functional impairments caused by the death of specific neural cell populations. Neuronal degeneration is the cause of debilitating visual impairment associated with prevalent ocular diseases, such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP), age-related macular ...