Bhardwaj Ratan D, Curtis Maurice A, Spalding Kirsty L, Buchholz Bruce A, Fink David, Björk-Eriksson Thomas, Nordborg Claes, Gage Fred H, Druid Henrik, Eriksson Peter S, Frisén Jonas
Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Medical Nobel Institute, and Department of Forensic Medicine, Karolinska Institute, SE-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Aug 15;103(33):12564-8. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0605177103. Epub 2006 Aug 10.
Stem cells generate neurons in discrete regions in the postnatal mammalian brain. However, the extent of neurogenesis in the adult human brain has been difficult to establish. We have taken advantage of the integration of (14)C, generated by nuclear bomb tests during the Cold War, in DNA to establish the age of neurons in the major areas of the human cerebral neocortex. Together with the analysis of the neocortex from patients who received BrdU, which integrates in the DNA of dividing cells, our results demonstrate that, whereas nonneuronal cells turn over, neurons in the human cerebral neocortex are not generated in adulthood at detectable levels but are generated perinatally.
干细胞在出生后的哺乳动物大脑的离散区域产生神经元。然而，成人大脑中神经发生的程度一直难以确定。我们利用冷战期间核弹试验产生的碳-14整合到DNA中来确定人类大脑新皮质主要区域神经元的年龄。结合对接受BrdU（整合到分裂细胞的DNA中）的患者的新皮质分析，我们的结果表明，虽然非神经元细胞会更新，但人类大脑新皮质中的神经元在成年期不会以可检测到的水平产生，而是在围产期产生。
