Astrocytes As Multipotent Stem Cells

描述(逐字摘自申请人的摘要)：本提案基于 在我们发现哺乳动物中枢神经系统不同区域的星形胶质细胞 表达多潜能神经干细胞(NSCs)的特征，因为它们可以 在体外形成多能神经球。大多数星形胶质细胞失去这些 在出生后发育的关键时期之后的特征；然而 室管膜下区(SEZ)的星形胶质细胞即使在 成年期，分裂以维持大量的神经元前体细胞 区域。我们提出了两组实验来进一步表征和分析 星形胶质细胞的神经干细胞特性：1)星形胶质细胞来源的移植 神经球到不同的中枢神经系统区域，以测试它们的能力 在不同环境中迁移、整合和产生神经元后代； 2)将临界期前后的星形胶质细胞移植到 成年经济特区测试这一区域是否存在指导 星形胶质细胞产生神经元后代。

DESCRIPTION (Verbatim from Applicant's abstract): The present proposal is based upon our discovery that astrocytes from diverse areas of the mammalian CNS express characteristics of multipotent neural stem cells (NSCs), since they can form multipotent neurospheres in vitro. Most astrocytes lose these characteristics after a critical period of postnatal development; however astrocytes from the subependymal zone (SEZ) remain multipotent even into adulthood, and divide to maintain a large pool of neuronal precursors in this region. We propose two sets of experiments to further characterize and analyze the NSC attributes of astrocytes: 1) transplantation of astrocyte-derived neurospheres to a variety of CNS regions in order to test their ability to migrate, integrate, and generate neuronal progeny in different environments; and 2) transplantation of pre-and post-critical period astrocytes into the adult SEZ to test for the presence of factors in this region that direct astrocytes to generate neuronal progeny.