Protocols for studying adult neurogenesis: insights and recent developments

The first evidence that neurogenesis occurs in the adult brain was reported in rodents in the early 1960s, using [(3)H]-thymidine autoradiography. In the 1980s and 90s, the advent of new techniques and protocols for studying cell proliferation in situ, and particularly bromodeoxyuridine labeling, helped to confirm that neurogenesis occurs in the adult brain and neural stem cells reside in the adult CNS, including in humans. Bromodeoxyuridine labeling is currently the method most commonly used for studying neurogenesis in the adult brain. However, this procedure is not without limitations, and controversies. In this article, I will review recent protocols for studying adult neurogenesis, particularly new protocols for studying cell kinetics and cell proliferative history, using halopyrimidines. I will review these techniques, and discuss their implications for the field of adult neurogenesis.