Balancing quiescence, self-renewal, and differentiation in adult stem cells is critical for tissue homeostasis. The underlying mechanisms, however, remain incompletely understood. Here we identify Fezf2 as a novel regulator of fate balance in adult zebrafish dorsal telencephalic neural stem cells (NSCs). Transgenic reporters show intermingled fezf2-GFP(hi) quiescent and fezf2-GFP(lo) proliferat...

Adult forebrain neurogenesis is dynamically regulated. Multiple families of niche-derived cues have been implicated in this regulation, but the precise roles of key intracellular signaling pathways remain vaguely defined. Here, we show that mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling is pivotal in determining proliferation versus quiescence in the adult forebrain neural stem cell (NSC) niche...

Recent studies have demonstrated that the depletion of Regulatory T cells (Tregs) inhibits neural progenitor cell migration after brain ischemia. However, whether Tregs affect neural stem/progenitor cell proliferation is unclear. We explored the effect of Tregs on neurogenesis in the subventricular zone (SVZ) after ischemia. Tregs were isolated and activated in vitro. Adult male C57BL/6 mice un...

The repressor element-1 (RE1) silencing transcription factor/neuron-restrictive silencer factor (REST/NRSF) silences neuronal genes in neural stem cells (NSCs) and nonneuronal cells through its role as a dynamic modular platform for recruitment of transcriptional and epigenetic regulatory cofactors to RE1-containing promoters. In embryonic stem cells, the REST regulatory network is highly integ...

objective(s): scutellarin, a flavonoid extracted from the medicinal herb erigeron breviscapus hand-mazz, protects neurons from damage and inhibits glial activation. here we examined whether scutellarin may also protect neurons from hypoxia-induced damage. materials and methods: mice were exposed to hypoxia for 7 days and then administered scutellarin (50 mg/kg/d) or vehicle for 30 days cognitiv...

Stem cells are central to the development and maintenance of many tissues. This is due to their capacity for extensive proliferation and differentiation into effector cells. More recently it has been shown that the proliferative and differentiative ability of stem cells decreases with age, suggesting that this may play a role in tissue aging. Down syndrome (DS), is associated with many of the s...

Understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying activation of quiescent neural stem cells (NSCs) is complicated by heterogeneity in coexisting NSC pools. Two papers in this issue of Cell Stem Cell (Llorens-Bobadilla et al., 2015; Shin et al., 2015) report sequencing of single NSCs, providing insights into the transition from quiescence to activation and highlighting common themes in NSCs from...

Background: The magnetic nanoparticle-based transfection method is a relatively new technique for delivery of functional genes to target tissues. We aimed to evaluate the transfection efficiency of rat neural stem cell (NSC) using poly-L-lysine hydrobromide (PLL)-coated super paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION). Methods: The SPION was prepared and coated with PLL as transfection agent...

Introduction: Now days, several studies have indicated the central nervous system has capacity for endogenous repair. But, the proliferation of endogenous neural stem cells (NSCs) is insufficient for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. So, it sound that stimulation of endogenous NSC proliferation is essential for neuroregeneration. The Acca sellowiana (Feijoa) extract as herbal extract is ...

Neural stem and progenitor cells (NSC/NPCs) are multipotent self-renewing cells that are able to generate neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes (OLs) within the adult central nervous system. We cultured NSC/NPCs from the rat subventricular zone as neurospheres (NS) and studied apoTransferrin (aTf) effects on oligodendroglial specification and maturation. Our findings suggest that aTf acts at...