Laboratory of Neural Plasticity, Brain Research Institute, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Laboratory of Genetics, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, 10010N. Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
Trends Cell Biol. 2014 Oct;24(10):558-63. doi: 10.1016/j.tcb.2014.07.003. Epub 2014 Aug 11.
Neural stem/progenitor cells (NSPCs) generate new neurons in the mammalian brain throughout life. Over the past two decades, substantial progress has been made in deciphering the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying adult neurogenesis and in understanding the role played by new neurons in brain function in animal models of health and disease. By contrast, knowledge regarding the extent and relevance of neurogenesis in the adult human brain remains scant. Here we review new concepts about how new neurons shape adult brain circuits, discuss fundamental, unanswered questions about stem cell-associated neural plasticity, and illustrate how the gap between the animal-based basic research and current efforts to analyze life-long neuronal development of the human brain may be overcome by using novel experimental strategies.
神经干细胞/祖细胞 (NSPCs) 在哺乳动物的大脑中终生产生新的神经元。在过去的二十年中，人们在解析成年神经发生的细胞和分子机制以及理解健康和疾病动物模型中新神经元在大脑功能中的作用方面取得了重大进展。相比之下，关于成年人类大脑中神经发生的程度和相关性的知识仍然很少。在这里，我们回顾了关于新神经元如何塑造成年大脑回路的新概念，讨论了与干细胞相关的神经可塑性的基本但尚未解决的问题，并说明了如何通过使用新的实验策略来克服基于动物的基础研究与当前分析人类大脑终生神经元发育的努力之间的差距。
