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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.21088/ijnns.0975.0223.9217.15

Abstract

In almost all neurodegenerative diseases, progressive neuronal loss is a common phenomenon. Hence neurodegenerative diseases are customarily defined by the progressive loss of neurons. Traditionally the novel treatment strategies focused on replacing the lost neurons by neural precursor cells (NPCs)/neural stem cells (NSCs). Huge amount of research reports demonstrate the proofof concept that transplantation of NSCs has therapeutic potential and have been used for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and other neurodegenerative diseases. The basic concept stand out in this point and question arises what happens to the selfrenewing and multipotent properties of NSCs that subsist in the adult brain. How adult NPCs/NSCs loss their capacity to overcome the effect of amyloid plaque pathology that cause AD, Lewis body that cause PD etc. It is not yet clear, whether prominent alteration of adult neurogenesis happens simultaneously during the initiation stage of plaque deposit (preplaque) stage. Parallel observations of generation of adult new neuron might affect by early hippocampus dysfunction which in turn follow the plaque deposit. This review article will try to define novel therapeutic strategies for neurodegenerative disorders and novel tools for high scale generation of adult NPCs/NSCs in vivo as well as in vitro. More importantly it will focus to explain the regulatory switches of adult neurogenesis and the factors that regulate adult neurogenesis.

Keywords: Adult Neurogenesis; SubVentricular Zone; SubGranular Zone; Neural Stem Cell; Neural Precursor Cell. 

Corresponding Author : Mamata Mishra, Senior Research Scientist, Molecular Biology & Genetics Unit., Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advance Scientific Research, Bangalore, Karnataka 560064, India.