CELL BIOLOGY OF THE NEURON Polarity ... - Tavernarakis Lab

Cell Biology of the Neuron: Polarity, Plasticity and Regeneration, Crete 2011
Neurogenesis from Glial Cells – Novel Sources for New
Neurons in the Adult Brain
Magdalena Götz
Institute of Stem Cell Research, Helmholtz Center Munich and Institute of
Physiology, University of Munich, Germany
Radial glial cells, the source of neurons in the developing brain, disappear at later
stages in most brain regions of mammals, while they persist in many other
vertebrates, such as the zebrafish, into adulthood. In light of this I will discuss
adult neurogenesis and glial reaction to injury, lacking scar formation and
reactive astrogliosis, in this excellent model of regeneration. I will then discuss
glial cell reaction after injury in the mammalian brain and will address the
molecular mechanisms for their failure to generate neurons by comparison to the
adult neural stem cells. These also possess radial glia hallmarks and persist in few
niches of the adult mammalian brain continuing to generate neurons life-long. I
will present recent insights into the transcriptome comparison of these adult
neural stem cells with other glial cells from the developing and adult brain with
and without injury. These data reveal the intriguing concept of lineage priming
for adult neural stem cells which seems to be absent in other glial cells from the
adult brain. I will close by demonstrating that the neurogenic factors involved in
lineage priming of the adult neural stem cells are indeed sufficient to instruct
neurogenesis at high efficiency from glia outside the neurogenic niches, even
from the adult human patient brain. Therefore, glial cells in the site of brain injury
are a novel cell source to elicit repair by local neurogenesis.
Presented by: Götz, Magdalena
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