Harris Lachlan, Zalucki Oressia, Piper Michael, Heng Julian Ik-Tsen
The School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.
The School of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia; Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia.
Stem Cells Int. 2016;2016:9745315. doi: 10.1155/2016/9745315. Epub 2016 Mar 16.
The cerebral cortex is essential for our higher cognitive functions and emotional reasoning. Arguably, this brain structure is the distinguishing feature of our species, and yet our remarkable cognitive capacity has seemingly come at a cost to the regenerative capacity of the human brain. Indeed, the capacity for regeneration and neurogenesis of the brains of vertebrates has declined over the course of evolution, from fish to rodents to primates. Nevertheless, recent evidence supporting the existence of neural stem cells (NSCs) in the adult human brain raises new questions about the biological significance of adult neurogenesis in relation to ageing and the possibility that such endogenous sources of NSCs might provide therapeutic options for the treatment of brain injury and disease. Here, we highlight recent insights and perspectives on NSCs within both the developing and adult cerebral cortex. Our review of NSCs during development focuses upon the diversity and therapeutic potential of these cells for use in cellular transplantation and in the modeling of neurodevelopmental disorders. Finally, we describe the cellular and molecular characteristics of NSCs within the adult brain and strategies to harness the therapeutic potential of these cell populations in the treatment of brain injury and disease.
大脑皮层对于我们的高级认知功能和情感推理至关重要。可以说，这种脑结构是我们人类物种的显著特征，然而我们卓越的认知能力似乎是以人类大脑的再生能力为代价的。事实上，从鱼类到啮齿动物再到灵长类动物，脊椎动物大脑的再生和神经发生能力在进化过程中逐渐下降。尽管如此，最近支持成人大脑中存在神经干细胞（NSC）的证据，引发了关于成体神经发生与衰老相关的生物学意义以及这种内源性神经干细胞来源可能为脑损伤和疾病治疗提供治疗选择的可能性的新问题。在这里，我们强调了关于发育中和成人大脑皮层内神经干细胞的最新见解和观点。我们对发育过程中神经干细胞的综述重点关注这些细胞在细胞移植和神经发育障碍建模中的多样性和治疗潜力。最后，我们描述了成人大脑内神经干细胞的细胞和分子特征，以及利用这些细胞群体治疗脑损伤和疾病的治疗潜力的策略。
