human adult gliomas increased patient age is a robust predictor of malignant clinical behavior evidenced by increased incidence, histologic grade, resistance to therapy and shortened patient survival [1]. Despite these associations, the mechanisms responsible for age-related increases in glioma malignancy are poorly understood; a deficiency compounded by the lack of informative animal models. N...

Neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs) located at the subgranular zone (SGZ) of the hippocampus participate in the maintenance of synaptic networks that ensure cognitive functions during life. Although it is known that this neurogenic niche losses activity with oxidative stress and ageing, the molecular events involved in its regulation are largely unknown. Here, we studied the role of transcript...

Adult central mammalian axons show minimal regeneration after spinal cord injury due to loss of oligodendrocytes, demyelination of surviving axons, absence of growth-promoting molecules, and inhibitors of axonal outgrowth. In the present study, we attempted to address these impediments to regeneration by using a combinatory strategy to enhance cell survival and regeneration after complete spin...

Deciphering the factors that regulate human neural stem cells will greatly aid in their use as models of development and as therapeutic agents. The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a component of stem cell niches in vivo and regulates multiple functions in diverse cell types, yet little is known about its effects on human neural stem/precursor cells (NSPCs). We therefore plated human NSPCs on four...

High-throughput, genome-wide translocation sequencing (HTGTS) studies of activated B cells have revealed that DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) capable of translocating to defined bait DSBs are enriched around the transcription start sites (TSSs) of active genes. We used the HTGTS approach to investigate whether a similar phenomenon occurs in primary neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs). We repor...

Adult mammalian brain can be plastic after injury and disease. Therefore, boosting endogenous repair mechanisms would be a useful therapeutic approach for neurological disorders. Isoxazole-9 (Isx-9) has been reported to enhance neurogenesis from neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs). However, the effects of Isx-9 on other types of progenitor/precursor cells remain mostly unknown. In this study, ...

PQBP1 is a nuclear-cytoplasmic shuttling protein that is engaged in RNA metabolism and transcription. In mouse embryonic brain, our previous in situ hybridization study revealed that PQBP1 mRNA was dominantly expressed in the periventricular zone region where neural stem progenitor cells (NSPCs) are located. Because the expression patterns in NSPCs are related to the symptoms of intellectual di...

In a previous study, we showed that murine dendritic cells (DCs) can increase the number of neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs) in vitro and in vivo. In the present study, we identified macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) as a novel factor that can support the proliferation and/or survival of NSPCs in vitro. MIF is secreted by DCs and NSPCs, and its function in the normal brain remain...

Adult neural stem and progenitor cells (NSPCs) are usually defined retrospectively by their ability to proliferate in vivo (bromodeoxyuridine uptake) or to form neurospheres and to differentiate into neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes in vitro. Additional strategies to identify and to isolate NSPCs are of great importance for the investigation of cell differentiation and fate specificatio...

Study Design We established induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs) from three newborns with spina bifida aperta (SBa) using clinically practical methods. Purpose We aimed to develop stem cell lines derived from newborns with SBa for future therapeutic use. Overview of Literature SBa is a common congenital spinal cord abnormality that causes defects i...