Identification and characterization of neuroblasts in the subventricular zone and rostral migratory stream of the adult human brain

Abstract

It is of great interest to identify new neurons in the adult human brain, but the persistence of neurogenesis in the subventricular zone (SVZ) and the existence of the rostral migratory stream (RMS)-like pathway in the adult human forebrain remain highly controversial. In the present study, we have described the general configuration of the RMS in adult monkey, fetal human and adult human brains. We provide evidence that neuroblasts exist continuously in the anterior ventral SVZ and RMS of the adult human brain. The neuroblasts appear singly or in pairs without forming chains; they exhibit migratory morphologies and co-express the immature neuronal markers doublecortin, polysialylated neural cell adhesion molecule and βIII-tubulin. Few of these neuroblasts appear to be actively proliferating in the anterior ventral SVZ but none in the RMS, indicating that neuroblasts distributed along the RMS are most likely derived from the ventral SVZ. Interestingly, no neuroblasts are found in the adult human olfactory bulb. Taken together, our data suggest that the SVZ maintains the ability to produce neuroblasts in the adult human brain.

Nés pour sentir ?

“…La neurogenèse du bulbe olfactif a été démontrée chez les rongeurs et les primates. Cependant, chez l'humain, la migration des neurones vers le bulbe olfactif décline de façon abrupte durant la petite enfance [5,6], et la persistance d'une neurogenèse du bulbe olfactif chez l'homme adulte n'a pas été établie. La seule présence de neuroblastes ne suffit pas à quantifier le rythme d'intégration des neurones dans le bulbe olfactif.…”

“…Même si de nouveaux neurones sont produits chez l'humain, ils ne s'intègrent pas durablement dans le bulbe olfactif. Ces résul-tats sont cohérents avec les études récentes indiquant une faible migration de neurones vers le bulbe olfactif passé la petite enfance [5,6]. Chez les rongeurs, les neurones nouveau-nés du bulbe olfactif intègrent les réseaux synaptiques et participent à des fonctions complexes comme la mémoire olfactive, la discrimination d'odeur et les interactions sociales [10].…”

Neuroscience in China 2010–2011

“…Unlike fetal brain, the persistence of neuroblasts in adult brain is controversial. Recently, evidence from adult monkey and human brains suggests that neuroblasts may be generated in the subventricular zone (SVZ) and then continuously migrate to the rostral migratory stream (RMS) [2]. Furthermore, Cheng et al [3] found that newborn neurons in the dentate gyrus (DG) migrated to the inner part of the granule cell layer using a mouse model based on the Cre/loxp system, providing an efficient way to selectively label and manipulate newborn neurons in the adult mouse DG.…”

A special issue on cell signaling, disease, and stem cells

“…We chose to highlight these stem cell papers in this special issue as stem cell research is intrinsically connected to the study of cell signaling and disease. The collection of a large number of stem cell papers also reflects the fact that stem cell research has become an important part of the growing content of Cell Research, as highlighted by a large number of important discoveries published in the journal in the past year alone, such as the successful generation of iPS cells with a single factor Oct4 [3,4], efficient generation of human iPS cells from blood cells via a non-integrating method [5], generation of functional platelets from hESCs [6], directed differentiation of atrial and ventricular myocytes from hESCs [7], the successful generation of ovine, hircine and bovine iPS cells [8][9][10], somatic cell reprogramming using electrofused blastomeres [11], improved methods for iPS cell generation [12,13], gener-ating iPS cells using Bmi1 [14], comprehensive analyses of chromatin state dynamics in hESC differentiation [15], characterization of neuroblasts in the adult human brain [16], identification of lectin biomarkers for human pluripotent stem cell isolation [17], and efficient correction of disease-causing genetic mutations in patient iPS cells [18].…”