De-routing neuronal precursors in the adult brain to sites of injury: role of the vasculature.

Neurogenesis in the adult brain occurs predominantly in the two regions, the subventricular zone (SVZ) bordering the lateral ventricle and subgranular zone (SGZ) of the hippocampus. The neuronal precursors are produced in the specialized microenvironment called neurovasculature niche. Recent evidences indicate that in addition to neurogenesis promoting environment, vasculature also serves as a substrate for migration for these newly generated cells.

Vasculature guides migrating neuronal precursors in the adult mammalian forebrain via brain-derived neurotrophic factor signaling.

Adult neuronal precursors retain the remarkable capacity to migrate long distances from the posterior (subventricular zone) to the most anterior [olfactory bulb (OB)] parts of the brain. The knowledge about the mechanisms that keep neuronal precursors in the migratory stream and organize this long-distance migration is incomplete. Here we show that blood vessels precisely outline the migratory stream for new neurons in the adult mammalian forebrain.

The fate of the large striatal interneurons expressing calretinin in Huntington's disease.

Huntington's disease (HD) is characterized by the atrophy of the striatum due to losses of projection neurons, while interneurons are relatively spared. However, little is known about the fate of the large interneurons that express calretinin (Cr) in HD. We addressed this issue by applying a double immunofluorescent labeling technique to postmortem striatum from HD patients and controls.