Because it lacks a lymphatic circulation, the brain must clear extracellular proteins by an alternative mechanism. The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) functions as a sink for brain extracellular solutes, but it is not clear how solutes from the brain interstitium move from the parenchyma to the CSF. We demonstrate that a substantial portion of subarachnoid CSF cycles through the brain interstitial space. On the basis of in vivo two-photon imaging of small fluorescent tracers, we showed that CSF enters the parenchyma along paravascular spaces that surround penetrating arteries and that brain interstitial fluid is cleared along paravenous drainage pathways. Animals lacking the water channel aquaporin-4 (AQP4) in astrocytes exhibit slowed CSF influx through this system and a ~70% reduction in interstitial solute clearance, suggesting that the bulk fluid flow between these anatomical influx and efflux routes is supported by astrocytic water transport. Fluorescent-tagged amyloid β, a peptide thought to be pathogenic in Alzheimer’s disease, was transported along this route, and deletion of the Aqp4 gene suppressed the clearance of soluble amyloid β, suggesting that this pathway may remove amyloid β from the central nervous system. Clearance through paravenous flow may also regulate extracellular levels of proteins involved with neurodegenerative conditions, its impairment perhaps contributing to the mis-accumulation of soluble proteins.

Defining the microanatomic differences between the human brain and that of other mammals is key to understanding its unique computational power. Although much effort has been devoted to comparative studies of neurons, astrocytes have received far less attention. We report here that protoplasmic astrocytes in human neocortex are 2.6-fold larger in diameter and extend 10-fold more GFAP (glial fibrillary acidic protein)-positive primary processes than their rodent counterparts. In cortical slices prepared from acutely resected surgical tissue, protoplasmic astrocytes propagate Ca 2ϩ waves with a speed of 36 m/s, approximately fourfold faster than rodent. Human astrocytes also transiently increase cystosolic Ca 2ϩ in response to glutamatergic and purinergic receptor agonists. The human neocortex also harbors several anatomically defined subclasses of astrocytes not represented in rodents. These include a population of astrocytes that reside in layers 5-6 and extend long fibers characterized by regularly spaced varicosities. Another specialized type of astrocyte, the interlaminar astrocyte, abundantly populates the superficial cortical layers and extends long processes without varicosities to cortical layers 3 and 4. Human fibrous astrocytes resemble their rodent counterpart but are larger in diameter. Thus, human cortical astrocytes are both larger, and structurally both more complex and more diverse, than those of rodents. On this basis, we posit that this astrocytic complexity has permitted the increased functional competence of the adult human brain.

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We investigated the role of astrocytes in activity-dependent modulation of inhibitory synaptic transmission in hippocampal slices. Repetitive firing of an interneuron decreased the probability of synaptic failures in spike-evoked inhibitory postsynaptic currents (unitary IPSCs) in CA1 pyramidal neurons. The GABAB-receptor antagonist CGP55845A abolished this effect. Direct stimulation of astrocytes, or application of the GABAB-receptor agonist baclofen, potentiated miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents (mIPSCs) in pyramidal neurons. These effects were blocked by inhibition of astrocytic calcium signaling with the calcium chelator BAPTA or by antagonists of the ionotropic glutamate receptors. These observations suggest that interneuronal firing elicits a GABAB-receptor-mediated elevation of calcium in surrounding astrocytes, which in turn potentiates inhibitory transmission. Astrocytes may therefore be a necessary intermediary in activity-dependent modulation of inhibitory synapses in the hippocampus.

To direct human embryonic stem (HES) cells to a dopaminergic neuronal fate, we cocultured HES cells that were exposed to both sonic hedgehog and fibroblast growth factor 8 with telomerase-immortalized human fetal midbrain astrocytes. These astrocytes substantially potentiated dopaminergic neurogenesis by both WA09 and WA01 HES cells, biasing them to the A9 nigrostriatal phenotype. When transplanted into the neostriata of 6-hydroxydopamine-lesioned parkinsonian rats, the dopaminergic implants yielded a significant, substantial and long-lasting restitution of motor function. However, although rich in donor-derived tyrosine hydroxylase-expressing neurons, the grafts exhibited expanding cores of undifferentiated mitotic neuroepithelial cells, which can be tumorigenic. These results show the utility of recreating the cellular environment of the developing human midbrain while driving dopaminergic neurogenesis from HES cells, and they demonstrate the potential of the resultant cells to mediate substantial functional recovery in a model of Parkinson disease. Yet these data also mandate caution in the clinical application of HES cell-derived grafts, given their potential for phenotypic instability and undifferentiated expansion.

The vocal control nucleus designated HVc (hyperstriatum ventrale, pars caudalis) of adult female canaries expands in response to systemic testosterone administration, which also induces the females to sing in a male-like manner. We became interested in the possibility of neurogenesis as a potential basis for this phenomenon. Intact adult female canaries were injected with [3H]thymidine over a 2-day period. Some birds were given testosterone implants at various times before thymidine. The birds were sacrificed 5 wk after hormone implantation, and their brains were processed for autoradiography. In parallel control experiments, some birds were given implants of cholesterol instead of testosterone. All birds showed considerable numbers of labeled neurons, glia, endothelia, and ventricular zone cells in and around HVc. Ultrastructural analysis confirmed the identity of these labeled neurons. Cholesterol-and testosterone-treated birds had similar neuronal labeling indices, which ranged from 1.8% to 4.0% in HVc. Thus, neurogenesis occurred in these adults independently of exogenous hormone treatment. Conversely, both glial and endothelial proliferation rates were markedly stimulated by exogenous testosterone treatment. We determined the origin of the thymidine-incorporating neurons by sacrificing two thymidine-treated females soon after their thymidine injections, precluding any significant migration of newly labeled cells. Analysis of these brains revealed no cells of neuronal morphology present in HVc but a very heavily labeled ventricular zone overlying HVc. We conclude that neuronal precursors exist in the HVc ventricular zone that incorporate tritiated thymidine during the S phase preceding their mitosis; after division these cells migrate into, and to some extent beyond, HVc. This ventricular zone neurogenesis seems to be a normally occurring phenomenon in intact adult female canaries.The primary telencephalic song-control nucleus, HVc (hyperstriatum ventrale, pars caudalis) (1, 2), of adult female canaries doubles in size in response to androgen treatment as these birds develop male-like song (3). We became interested in the possibility that addition of neurons might contribute to this increase in HVc volume. We report here that new neurons are added at relatively high rates to nucleus HVc of adult intact female canaries. This occurs as ventricular zone stem cells proliferate, and then some of the daughter cells migrate into HVc and differentiate into young neurons. This adult neurogenesis occurs independently of exogenous testosterone treatment; however, both glial and endothelial proliferation can be stimulated by testosterone administration. MATERIALS AND METHODSOn day 0 of this study (June 10, 1981) 18 intact, 1-yr-old female canaries were implanted with Silastic tubes (4) containing either testosterone (14 birds), cholesterol (3 birds), or nothing (1 bird). For successive 2-day periods beginning with day 0, individual birds received intramuscular (M. pectoralis) injections of [3H]thymidine ([me...

Neurogenesis proceeds throughout life in the higher vocal center (HVC) of the adult songbird neostriatum. Testosterone induces neuronal addition and endothelial division in HVC. We asked if testosterone-induced angiogenesis might contribute importantly to HVC neuronal recruitment. Testosterone upregulated both VEGF and its endothelial receptor, VEGF-R2/Quek1/KDR, in HVC. This yielded a burst in local HVC angiogenesis. FACS-isolated HVC endothelial cells produced BDNF in a testosterone-dependent manner. In vivo, HVC BDNF rose by the third week after testosterone, lagging by over a week the rise in VEGF and VEGF-R2. In situ hybridization revealed that much of this induced BDNF mRNA was endothelial. In vivo, both angiogenesis and neuronal addition to HVC were substantially diminished by inhibition of VEGF-R2 tyrosine kinase. These findings suggest a causal interaction between testosterone-induced angiogenesis and neurogenesis in the adult forebrain.

The subcortical white matter of the adult human brain harbors a pool of glial progenitor cells. These cells can be isolated by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) after either transfection with green fluorescent protein (GFP) under the control of the CNP2 promoter, or A2B5-targeted immunotagging. Although these cells give rise largely to oligodendrocytes, in low-density culture we observed that some also generated neurons. We thus asked whether these nominally glial progenitors might include multipotential progenitor cells capable of neurogenesis. We found that adult human white-matter progenitor cells (WMPCs) could be passaged as neurospheres in vitro and that these cells generated functionally competent neurons and glia both in vitro and after xenograft to the fetal rat brain. WMPCs were able to produce neurons after their initial isolation and did not require in vitro expansion or reprogramming to do so. These experiments indicate that an abundant pool of mitotically competent neurogenic progenitor cells resides in the adult human white matter.