Centre for Neuroscience, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia.
J Physiol. 2013 Jan 1;591(1):67-76. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.2012.246397. Epub 2012 Nov 5.
Substantial advances have been made in the last decade on our understanding of the basic physiology underlying neurogenesis in the postnatal mammalian brain. The bulk of the work in this area has been based on analysis of the adult brain. Relatively less is known about the capacity for neurogenesis in specific structures within the neonatal brain. Here we report that the production of medium spiny striatal projection neurons extends into the early neonatal period under normal physiological conditions in the rat brain. Birth-dating of newborn cells with bromodeoxyuridine at postnatal days 0, 2 and 5 showed a peak production close to birth, which sharply declined at the later time-points. Additionally, there was a low-level but stable contribution of neurons with interneuron identity over the same time-period. Importantly, retroviral labelling of new striatal projection neurons with green fluorescent protein showed long-term survival and terminal differentiation with characteristic morphology, including highly elaborated spiny dendrites, and appropriate axonal targeting of the globus pallidus and midbrain. This latent period of striatal neurogenesis in the early neonatal brain represents an interesting target for regenerative approaches aimed at restoring striatal circuitry in perinatal pathologies, such as hypoxic and ischaemic damage associated with cerebral palsy.
在过去十年中，我们对哺乳动物大脑中神经发生的基本生理学有了实质性的认识。该领域的大部分工作都是基于对成年大脑的分析。相对而言，对于新生儿大脑中特定结构的神经发生能力了解较少。在这里，我们报告说，在正常生理条件下，大鼠大脑中的中脑纹状体投射神经元的产生会延伸到新生儿早期。在出生后第 0、2 和 5 天用溴脱氧尿苷对新生细胞进行出生标记，显示出接近出生时的高峰产生，而在稍后的时间点急剧下降。此外，在同一时期，神经元的中间神经元特性也有一个低水平但稳定的贡献。重要的是，用绿色荧光蛋白对新生纹状体投射神经元进行逆转录病毒标记显示出长期存活和终末分化，具有特征性的形态，包括高度发达的棘突树突和苍白球和中脑的适当轴突靶向。新生儿早期大脑中的这种纹状体神经发生的潜伏期是一个有趣的目标，适用于再生方法，旨在恢复围产期病理（如脑瘫相关的缺氧和缺血性损伤）中的纹状体回路。
