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Brain Advance Access published online on March 13, 2009
Brain, doi:10.1093/brain/awp043
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© The Author (2009). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Focal laser-lesions activate an endogenous population of neural stem/progenitor cells in the adult visual cortex

Swetlana Sirko1, Angela Neitz1, Thomas Mittmann2, Andrea Horvat-Bröcker1, Alexander von Holst1, Ulf T. Eysel2 and Andreas Faissner1

1 Faculty of Biology and Biotechnology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Universitaetsstrasse, Bochum, Germany 2 Faculty of Medicine, Ruhr-University Bochum, Universitaetsstrasse, Bochum, Germany

Correspondence to: Andreas Faissner, Ruhr-University Bochum, Universitaetsstrasse 150, D-44780 Bochum, Germany E-mail: andreas.faissner{at}ruhr-uni-bochum.de

CNS lesions stimulate adult neurogenic niches. Endogenous neural stem/progenitor cells represent a potential resource for CNS regeneration. Here, we investigate the response to unilateral focal laser-lesions applied to the visual cortex of juvenile rats. Within 3 days post-lesion, an ipsilateral increase of actively cycling cells was observed in cortical layer one and in the callosal white matter within the lesion penumbra. The cells expressed the neural stem/progenitor cell marker Nestin and the 473HD-epitope. Tissue prepared from the lesion area by micro-dissection generated self-renewing, multipotent neurospheres, while cells from the contralateral visual cortex did not. The newly formed neural stem/progenitor cells in the lesion zone might support neurogenesis, as suggested by the expression of Pax6 and Doublecortin, a marker of newborn neurons. We propose that focal laser-lesions may induce the emergence of stem/progenitor cells with neurogenic potential. This could underlie the beneficial effects of laser application in neurosurgery.

Key Words: stem cells; cortical reorganisation; neural plasticity; brain lesions; neural repair

Received September 2, 2008. Revised January 13, 2009. Accepted January 26, 2009.


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