engleski

The role of Nxf in neural stem cells

Stem cells are present in specific regions of the adult mammalian brain, such as the hippocampus and subventricular zone, where they continue to mediate neurogenesis throughout adulthood. A greater understanding of the genes that control their proliferation and differentiation into functional brain cells may contribute to the development of therapeutic treatments for neurodegenerative diseases such as stroke and Parkinson’s disease. A new gene, Nxf, was discovered using a chemically induced seizure model in mice. The gene, which encodes a transcription factor, was found to be upregulated in the hippocampus one hour following injection. This suggests that Nxf may play a role in the brain’s repair mechanism post-seizure. How this is achieved is unknown, however, it is postulated that this may occur through the activation/recruitment of neural stem cells via migratory signals to site of injury where new neurons are then formed. The primary objectives of our research are to ; (1) Determine which populations of stem cells express Nxf, and (2) Investigate the functional role of Nxf in several fundamental aspects of neural stem cell biology including proliferation and differentiation. Preliminary experiments have shown that Nxf is expressed in a number of cell populations within the adult brain at the mRNA level and further work will be carried out to determine the identity of the Nxf-expressing cells.

Nxf ; neural stem cells

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