Survival Signals for Newborn Brain Cells
Johns Hopkins researchers report that a special type of brain cell sends signals that tamp down stem cell activity but encourage the survival of the stem cells’ progeny, newborn brain cells.
Understanding how these new brain cells "decide" whether to live or die and how to behave is of special interest because changes in their activity are linked to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, mental illness and aging.
Source and further reading:
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/media/releases/signal_found_to_enhance_survival_of_new_brain_cells
Image: illustration of parvalbumin-expressing interneurons delivering lifesaving chemical messengers to newborn neurons via tentacle-like synapses.
Image credit: Mingxi Max Song and Gerald Sun
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