EPENDYMAL SUBEPENDYMAL ZONE CELLS OF POSTNATAL AND ADULT SONGBIRD BRAIN GENERATE BOTH NEURONS AND NONNEURONAL SIBLINGS IN-VITRO AND IN-VIVO/

The songbird forebrain continues to generate neurons in adulthood, fro m precursor cells located in the ependymal/subependymal zone (SZ) over the mediocaudal neostriatum. Precursor mitosis is followed by migrati on of neuronal daughter cells into the underlying forebrain, along rad ial fibers derived from the SZ. To define the ontogeny of both the new neurons and their radial guide cells, we employed retroviral insertio n of the lacZ gene into neostriatal SZ precursor cells derived from po stnatal and adult songbirds. We found that single SZ cells generate bo th neurons and substrate glia in vitro. and in an analogous fashion, b oth neurons and radial cells in vivo. This suggests that newly generat ed neurons and radial cells of the adult avian brain derive from a com mon pluripotential progenitor. (C) 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.