S. Weiss et al., MULTIPOTENT CNS STEM-CELLS ARE PRESENT IN THE ADULT MAMMALIAN SPINAL-CORD AND VENTRICULAR NEUROAXIS, The Journal of neuroscience, 16(23), 1996, pp. 7599-7609
Neural stem cells in the lateral ventricles of the adult mouse CNS par
ticipate in repopulation of forebrain structures in vivo and are amena
ble to in vitro expansion by epidermal growth factor (EGF). There have
been no reports of stem cells in more caudal brain regions or in the
spinal cord of adult mammals. In this study we found that although ine
ffective alone, EGF and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) cooperat
ed to induce the proliferation, self-renewal, and expansion of neural
stem cells isolated from the adult mouse thoracic spinal cord. The pro
liferating stem cells, in both primary culture and secondary expanded
clones, formed spheres of undifferentiated cells that were induced to
differentiate into neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes Neural st
em cells, whose proliferation was dependenton EGF+bFGF, were also isol
ated from the lumbar/sacral segment of the spinal cord as well as the
third and fourth ventricles (but not adjacent brain parenchyma). Altho
ugh all of the stem cells examined were similarly multipotent and expa
ndable, quantitative analyses demonstrated that the lateral ventricles
(EGF-dependent) and lumbar/sacral spinal cord (EGF+bFGF-dependent) yi
elded the greatest number of these cells. Thus, the spinal cord and th
e entire ventricular neuroaxis of the adult mammalian CNS contain mult
ipotent stem cells, present at variable frequency and with unique in v
itro activation requirements.