To be a successful scientist, you have to expect the unexpected. No biological process or disease mechanism is ever that simple when you peel off its outer layers. Overtime, results that prove a long-believed theory can be overturned by new results that suggest an alternate theory.

UCSF scientist Arturo Alvarez-Buylla is well versed with the concept of unexpected results. His lab’s research is focused on understanding adult neurogenesis – the process of creating new nerve cells (called neurons) from neural stem cells (NSCs).

For a long time, the field of adult neurogenesis has settled on the theory that brain stem cells divide asymmetrically to create two different types of cells: neurons and neural stem cells. In this way, brain stem cells populate the brain with new neurons and they also self-renew to maintain a constant stem cell supply throughout the adult animal’s life.

New Insights into Adult Neurogenesis

Last week, Alvarez-Buylla and his colleagues published new insights on adult neurogenesis in mice in the journal Cell Stem Cell. The study overturns the original theory of asymmetrical neural stem cell division and suggests that neural stem cells divide in a symmetrical fashion that could eventually deplete their stem cell population over the lifetime of the animal.

Arturo Alvarez-Buylla explained the study’s findings in an email interview with the Stem Cellar:

Arturo Alvarez-Bulla

“Our results are not what we expected. Our work shows that postnatal NSCs are not being constantly renewed by splitting them asymmetrically, with one cell remaining as a stem cell and the other as a differentiated cell. Instead, self-renewal and differentiation are decoupled and achieved by symmetric divisions.”

In brief, the study found that neural stem cells (called B1 cells) divide symmetrically in an area of the adult mouse brain called the ventricular-subventricular zone (V-SVZ). Between 70%-80% of those symmetric divisions produced neurons while only 20%-30% created new B1 stem cells. Alvarez-Buylla said that this process would result in the gradual depletion of B1 stem cells over time and seems to be carefully choreographed for the length of the lifespan of a mouse.

What does this mean?

I asked Alvarez-Buylla how his findings in mice will impact the field and whether he expects human adult neurogenesis to follow a similar process. He explained,

“The implications are quite wide, as it changes the way we think about neural stem cell retention and aging. The cells do not seem open ended with unlimited potential to be renewed, which results in a progressive decrease in NSC number and neurogenesis with time.  Understanding the mechanisms regulating proliferation of NSCs and their self-renewal also provides new insights into how the whole process of neurogenesis is choreographed over long periods by suggesting that differentiation (generation of neurons) is regulated separately from renewal.”

He further explained that mice generate new neurons in the V-SVZ brain region throughout their lifetime while humans only appear to generate new neurons during infancy in the equivalent region of the human brain called the SVZ. In humans, he said, it remains unclear where and how many neural stem cells are retained after birth.

I also asked him how these findings will impact the development of neural stem cell-based therapies for neurological or neurodegenerative diseases. Alvarez-Buylla shared interesting insights:

“Our data also indicate that upon a self-renewing division, sibling NSCs may not be equal to each other. While one NSC might stay quiescent [non-dividing] for an extended period of time, its sister cell might become activated earlier on and either undergo another round of self-renewal or differentiate. Thus, for cell-replacement therapies it will be important to understand which kind of neuron the NSC of interest can produce, and when. The use of NSCs for brain repair requires a detailed understanding of which NSC subset will be utilized for treatment and how to induce them to produce progeny. The study also suggests that factors that control NSC renewal may be separate from those that control generation of neurons.”

Scientists developing adult NSC-based therapies will definitely need to take note of Alvarez-Buylla’s findings as some NSC populations might be more successful therapeutically than others.

Neural Stem Cells in the Wild

I’ll conclude with a beautiful image that the study’s first author, Kirsten Obernier, shared with me. It’s shows the V-SVZ of the mouse brain and a neural stem cell in red making contact with a blood vessel in green and neurons in blue.

Kirsten described the complex morphology of B1 NSCs in the mouse brain and their dynamic behavior, which Kirsten observed by taking a time lapsed video of NSCs dividing in the mouse V-SVZ. Obernier and Alvarez-Buylla hypothesize that these NSCs could be receiving signals from their surrounding environment that tell them whether to make neurons or to self-renew.

Clearly, further research is necessary to peel back the complex layers of adult neurogenesis. If NSC differentiation is regulated separately from self-renewal, their insights could shed new light on how conditions of unregulated self-renewal like brain tumors develop.