[Ischemic damage-induced nestin synthesis in the rat brain cells].

Nestin, an intermediate filament protein, is known to be expressed in the proliferating and provisional cells of the developing mammalian brain and is lost during differentiation. The aim of the present study was to determine the morphological type and localization areas of the rat brain cells exhibiting the ability to synthesize nestin after a short-term global ischemia of the brain. Induction of nestin synthesis after a short-term ischemia was found within the injured brain areas in astrocytes, which exhibited structural features atypical for these cells in mature brain and maintained them for a long time, and in the morphologically undifferentiated cells of subventricular zone, which were able to proliferate. However, acquisition by astrocytes of some phenotypic properties of immature glial cell does not by itself support the view that they may transform into neural stem cells.