Hypertensive encephalopathy rarely presents with predominant involvement of the brain stem and relative sparing of the supratentorial regions. We describe the MR imaging features in a patient with reversible brain stem hypertensive encephalopathy. Extensive hyperintensity was predominantly seen in brain stem regions on fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery and T2-weighted images. These lesions sh...

Neural stem cells reside in a specialized vascular microenvironment that is termed “neural stem cell niche”, Brain vessels are the most important element in the NSC niche and paly an important role in balancing NSC’s maintenance and differentiation in order to maintain tissue homeostasis. In this study, we developed reconstituted 3D in vitro neural stem cell-vascular niche that consists of extr...

Two new 3T MR imaging contrast methods, track density imaging and echo modulation curve T2 mapping, were combined with simultaneous multisection acquisition to reveal exquisite anatomic detail at 7 canonical levels of the brain stem. Compared with conventional MR imaging contrasts, many individual brain stem tracts and nuclear groups were directly visualized for the first time at 3T. This new a...

A 68-year-old man presented with a highly symptomatic brain stem tumor originally thought to be a brain stem glioma. Intraoperative MR imaging guidance was used to resect the tumor, and real-time evoked potentials improved during surgery. Pathology findings unexpectedly indicated that the tumor was an intra-axial brain stem schwannoma, a condition reported, to our knowledge, only 6 times previo...

With the increasing recognition that stem cells play vital roles in the formation, maintenance, and potential targeted treatment of brain tumors, there has been an exponential increase in basic laboratory and translational research on these cell types. However, there are several different classes of stem cells germane to brain cancer, each with distinct capabilities and functions. In this persp...

It has been suggested that intrinsic brain tumours originate from a neural stem/progenitor cell population in the subventricular zone of the post-natal brain. However, the influence of the initial genetic mutation on the phenotype as well as the contribution of mature astrocytes to the formation of brain tumours is still not understood. We deleted Rb/p53, Rb/p53/PTEN or PTEN/p53 in adult subven...

BACKGROUND We recently showed that the severity of MRI signal abnormalities increases with age in CADASIL, an arteriopathy due to mutations of notch 3 gene on chromosome 19. Previous results also suggest that the various hemispheric subcortical areas have a different vulnerability to ischemia in this disease. The distribution of the lesions at the brain stem level has not yet been reported. C...

Malignant brain tumors are among the most lethal cancers, and conventional therapies are largely limited to palliation. Novel therapies targeted against specific molecular pathways may offer superior efficacy and less toxicity than conventional therapies, but initial clinical trials of molecular targeted agents in brain cancer therapy have been frequently disappointing. In brain tumors and othe...

The practical usefulness of computed tomography with intrathecal metrizamide in imaging the brain stem is illustrated in six examples where the lesions were misdiagnosed on intravenously enhanced computed tomography, angiography , or air study. Focal and diffuse atrophic changes of the brain stem were demonstrated in symptomatic patients where none of the other radiographic or clinical investig...

The brain shows limited ability to repair itself, but neurogenesis in certain areas of the adult brain suggests that neural stem cells may be used for structural brain repair. It will be necessary to understand how neurogenesis in the adult brain is regulated to develop strategies that harness neural stem cells for therapeutic use.