瑞典卡罗林斯卡医学院研究人员最新发现，人类大脑在中风后，其室管膜细胞也在发挥修复受损伤部位的作用。
医学界一直认为，大脑在受中风创伤后，只有一种干细胞负责进行自我修复，即通过这种干细胞分化新的神经细胞来修复受损部位。
现在，卡罗林斯卡医学院的研究人员以老鼠为对象进行的动物实验证实，大脑中风后室管膜细胞也在帮助受损部位产生新的神经细胞，而在正常情况下，这种细胞并不发挥这一功能。
这一研究成果发表在最新一期英国《自然神经学》杂志上。研究人员在报告中说，医学界可以根据他们的这一发现改进目前的中风治疗方案。但他们也表示，这一发现仅处于开始阶段，还需要进行大量研究和探索，才可能真正应用于临床治疗。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
Nature Neuroscience Published online: 22 February 2009 | doi:10.1038/nn.2268
Forebrain ependymal cells are Notch-dependent and generate neuroblasts and astrocytes after stroke
Marie Carlén1,7, Konstantinos Meletis1,7, Christian G?ritz1, Vladimer Darsalia2,3, Emma Evergren4, Kenji Tanigaki5, Mario Amendola6, Fanie Barnabé-Heider1, Maggie S Y Yeung1, Luigi Naldini6, Tasuku Honjo5, Zaal Kokaia2,3, Oleg Shupliakov4, Robert M Cassidy1, Olle Lindvall2,3 & Jonas Frisén1
Abstract
Neurons are continuously generated from stem cells in discrete regions in the adult mammalian brain. We found that ependymal cells lining the lateral ventricles were quiescent and did not contribute to adult neurogenesis under normal conditions in mice but instead gave rise to neuroblasts and astrocytes in response to stroke. Ependymal cell quiescence was actively maintained by canonical Notch signaling. Inhibition of this pathway in uninjured animals allowed ependymal cells to enter the cell cycle and produce olfactory bulb neurons, whereas forced Notch signaling was sufficient to block the ependymal cell response to stroke. Ependymal cells were depleted by stroke and failed to self-renew sufficiently to maintain their own population. Thus, although ependymal cells act as primary cells in the neural lineage to produce neurons and glial cells after stroke, they do not fulfill defining criteria for stem cells under these conditions and instead serve as a reservoir that is recruited by injury.
1 Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Medical Nobel Institute, Karolinska Institute, SE-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden.
2 Wallenberg Neuroscience Center, University Hospital, SE-221 84 Lund, Sweden.
3 Lund Strategic Research Center for Stem Cell Biology and Cell Therapy, University Hospital, SE-221 84 Lund, Sweden.
4 Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, SE-171 77 Stockholm, Sweden.
5 Department of Medical Chemistry, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Konoecho, Yoshida, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan.
6 Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy, San Raffaele Institute, via Olgettina 58, 20132 Milan, Italy.
7 Present address: Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
