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http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0503965102v1
Can some scientist/physician translate this for the common folk?
Neuroscience
Phenotypic and functional characterization of adult brain neuropoiesis
( adult stem cells | electrophysiology | in vitro | neurogenesis | subventricular zone )
Bjorn Scheffler *{dagger}{ddagger}, Noah M. Walton *{dagger}, Dean D. Lin {sect}, A. Katrin Goetz *, Grigori Enikolopov ¶, Steve N. Roper *{sect}, and Dennis A. Steindler *{ddagger}{sect}||
Departments of *Neuroscience and {sect}Neurosurgery, University of Florida, McKnight Brain Institute, Gainesville, FL 32610; and ¶Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724
Communicated by Darwin J. Prockop, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, May 12, 2005 (received for review January 18, 2005)
The modern concept of neurogenesis in the adult brain is predicated on the premise that multipotent glial cells give rise to new neurons throughout life. Although extensive evidence exists indicating that this is the case, the transition from glial to neuronal phenotype remains poorly understood. A unique monolayer cell-culture system was developed to induce, expose, and recapitulate the entire developmental series of events of subventricular zone (SVZ) neurogenesis. We show here, using immunophentoypic, ultrastructural, electrophysiological, and time-lapse analyses, that SVZ-derived glial fibrillary acidic proteinlow/A2B5+/nestin+ candidate founder cells undergo metamorphosis to eventually generate large numbers of fully differentiated interneuron phenotypes. A model of postnatal neurogenesis is considered in light of known embryonic events and reveals a limited developmental potential of SVZ stem/progenitor cells, whereby ancestral cells in both embryonic and postnatal/adult settings give rise to glia and GABAergic interneurons.