Symposium on ‘Neural stem and progenitor cells: biology and clinical potential’, part one

Abstract

In July 2004 the Department of Anatomy at University College Cork, Ireland, hosted the summer meeting of the Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland in conjunction with a meeting of the Irish National Neuroscience Network. In addition to the normal ASGBI summer meeting proceedings, a special international symposium entitled ‘Neural stem and progenitor cells: biology and clinical potential’ was held. The meeting also included update talks and posters from members of the National Neuroscience Network (NNN), an ongoing nationwide interdisciplinary research programme funded by the Irish Government's National Development Plan. The meeting and symposium were organized by Professor John Fraher, Dr Aideen Sullivan, Dr Kieran McDermott and Professor Arthur Butt. The symposium brought together international researchers who have contributed to recent developments in neural stem cell biology. Throughout the two days of the symposium, the invited experts, from a diverse range of backgrounds from basic biology to clinical applications, addressed outstanding issues relating to neural stem and progenitor cell characterization and nomenclature in development and in adulthood, as well as novel approaches to cell replacement therapies for neurological disorders. Review articles resulting from this symposium comprise this special issue of the Journal of Anatomy, and part of one issue that will follow later in the year. The symposium articles presented in this issue focus on the characterization and potential clinical application of neural stem and progenitor cells, as well as papers presented by members of the NNN. The October issue will contain review articles from the symposium that addressed the related issue of defining NG2-expressing cells in the CNS and their roles in regeneration and remyelination. The first six papers presented in this issue relate to neural stem cell biology and the potential of stem cells to be used in therapeutic approaches to neurological disorders. The article by Watts et al. discusses the biology of neural stem cells in the adult brain, their relevance to brain injury and disease, and their potential to be used for the development of novel treatments for neurological diseases. The papers by Maxwell & Li and Sullivan & O’Keeffe focus on midbrain dopaminergic neurons, which are of much interest in the development of new therapies for Parkinson's disease. Maxwell & Li have identified a number of regulatory factors, including Pitx3, that influence the development of these neurons in vivo. They also describe the generation of dopaminergic neurons in vitro from embryonic stem cells, which may have the potential to be used in transplantation approaches to Parkinson's disease. Sullivan & O’Keeffe describe a neurotrophic protein, GDF5, which has actions on the induction, survival and differentiation of midbrain dopaminergic neurons. These properties could be used to induce neuroprotection and/or to enhance transplantation in Parkinson's disease. Zietlow et al. describe some of their recent work involving the transplantation of embryonic neural precursor cells into the adult rat striatum. Their finding that the long-term expansion of these cells in vitro impairs their ability to survive long term after transplantation has implications for the potential use of these cells for neural transplantation strategies. The paper by McDermott et al. is concerned with radial glial cells – their roles as neuronal progenitor cells, as well as their involvement in cell migration and axonal growth in the developing brain and spinal cord. Zhao et al. discuss the biology of cells that respond to demyelinating disorders of the central nervous system, such as multiple sclerosis. They describe the types of adult stem and/or progenitor cells that may be activated following demyelination and may contribute to remyelination and repair. The four papers presented by invited members of the NNN demonstrate a few of the research themes under investigation by the neuroscience research community in Ireland. Dinan & Scott describe the involvement of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis in melancholic depression. In particular, the roles of the hypothalamic hormones, corticotrophin-releasing hormone and vasopressin, are discussed. The paper by Moynagh reviews the contribution of interleukin-1 signalling in astrocytes in neuropathological conditions such as multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease, and the potential of this signalling pathway to be exploited as a therapeutic target in the treatment of many neurological diseases. O'Mara's paper is concerned with synaptic plasticity in the subiculum, as well as the roles of this brain area in spatial navigation, mnemonic processing and the control of responses to stress. Finally, the article by Hennessy et al. demonstrates how facial dysmorphogenesis can be measured using three-dimensional laser scanning and geometric morphometrics. These measurements can serve as an accessible and informative index of brain dysmorphogenesis in neurological and psychiatric disorders of early developmental origin.