Migration and integration of adult stem cells
The ability of the adult mammalian brain to compensate for disease- or injury-mediated neuronal loss is very limited and stem cell therapy with neural progenitors often suffers from the failure of new neurons to integrate into the preexisting neural network. At the same time, in the adult mammalian brain there exist neurogenic niches able to generate neural progenitors during the entire life. Using a combination of molecular biological, electrophysiological and in vivo imaging techniques we are trying to understand the rules governing the migration, differentiation and integration/survival of the adult-born neural progenitors in the olfactory bulb circuitry (see also In vivo odorant response properties of migrating adult-born neurons in the mouse olfactory bulb and Long-term in vivo single-cell tracking reveals the switch of migration patterns in adult-born juxtaglomerular cells of the mouse olfactory bulb).Better knowledge of the mechanisms of stem cell integration/survival in the adult mammalian brain, as well as advances in stem cell biology, will enable the use of either endogenous or transplantable neural stem cells for regenerative therapies.