BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE We tested the hypothesis that sildenafil, a phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitor, promotes functional recovery and neurogenesis after stroke. METHODS Male Wistar rats were subjected to embolic middle cerebral artery occlusion. Sildenafil (Viagra) was administered orally for 7 consecutive days starting 2 or 24 hours after stroke onset at doses of 2 or 5 mg/kg per da...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Intracisternal basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) enhances sensorimotor recovery after focal cerebral infarction in rats. One possible mechanism is stimulation of endogenous progenitor cells in brain. We investigated the effects of intracisternal bFGF on brain progenitor cells after stroke. METHODS Proliferating brain cells were labeled with bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) ...

Stem cells of the subventricular zone (SVZ) represent a reliable source of neurons for cell replacement. Neuropeptide Y (NPY) promotes neurogenesis in the hippocampal subgranular layer and the olfactory epithelium and may be useful for the stimulation of SVZ dynamic in brain repair purposes. We describe that NPY promotes SVZ neurogenesis. NPY (1 microM) treatments increased proliferation at 48 ...

A commentary on Adult generation of glutamatergic olfactory bulb interneurons. In the adult mammalian brain the fore-brain subventricular zone (SVZ) is a source of olfactory bulb (OB) GABAergic neurons. It is by now well established that astrocyte-like cells via fast-amplifying progenitor cells generate neuronal precursors that mature into functional neurons (Kriegstein and Alvarez-Buylla, 2009...

Migrating neurons are thought to travel from their origin near the ventricle to distant territories along stereotypical pathways by detecting environmental cues in the extracellular milieu. Here, we report a novel mode of neuronal migration that challenges this view. We performed long-term, time-lapse imaging of medial ganglionic eminence (MGE)-derived cortical interneurons tangentially migrati...

Neural stem cells (NSCs) from the subventricular zone (SVZ) have been indicated as a source of new oligodendrocytes to use in regenerative medicine for myelin pathologies. Indeed, NSCs are multipotent cells that can self-renew and differentiate into all neural cell types of the central nervous system. In normal conditions, SVZ cells are poorly oligodendrogenic, nevertheless their oligodendrogen...

TALE-homeodomain proteins function as components of heteromeric complexes that contain one member each of the PBC and MEIS/PREP subclasses. We recently showed that MEIS2 cooperates with the neurogenic transcription factor PAX6 in the control of adult subventricular zone (SVZ) neurogenesis in rodents. Expression of the PBC protein PBX1 in the SVZ has been reported, but its functional role(s) has...

The subventricular zone (SVZ) of the adult mouse brain is a narrow stem cell niche that lies along the length of the lateral wall of the lateral ventricles. The SVZ supports neurogenesis throughout adulthood; however, with increasing age, the ventral SVZ deteriorates and only the dorsolateral SVZ remains neurogenic. Associated with the elderly dorsolateral SVZ, we reported previously an increas...

PROBLEM STATEMENT Diphenylhydantoin (phenytoin) is an antiepileptic drug that generates hyperplasia in some tissue by stimulating Epidermal Growth Factor (EGFR) and Platelet-Derived Growth Factor beta (PDGFR-β) receptors and by increasing serum levels of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF, FGF2 or FGF-β). Neural stem cells in the adult brain have been isolated from three regions: the Subventr...

In specific regions of the adult mammalian brain, neural stem cells (NSCs) generate new neurons throughout life. Emerging evidence indicate that chromatin-based transcriptional regulation is a key epigenetic mechanism for the life-long function of adult NSCs. In the adult mouse brain, NSCs in the subventricular zone (SVZ) retain the ability to produce both neurons and glia for the life of the a...