VATIS UPDATE Article

Researchers at the Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, have found proteins that can reactivate neural stem cells (NSCs). Their research could lead to stem cell-based therapies for neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders such as microcephaly and Alzheimer’s disease. Only a small fraction of NSCs in adult mammalian brains is proliferative; most NSCs are in a non-dividing state also known as quiescence.

The balance between NSC proliferation and quiescence is essential for brain development and emerging evidence suggests that its imbalance is linked to neurodevelopmental disorders, such as microcephaly. On the other hand, the population of quiescent NSCs in the brain increases with aging, which is associated with declining brain function. Understanding how endogenous NSCs can be activated has huge potential in regenerative medicine.

However, it is poorly understood how NSCs switch between proliferation and quiescence in vivo. In the present study, researchers used fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) to show that proteins in the spindle matrix complex play an essential role in controlling gene expression during NSC reactivation. The study has been published in the journal Nature Communications.