Angiogenic factors stimulate growth of adult neural stem cells

The ability to grow a uniform cell type from the adult central nervous system (CNS) is valuable for developing cell therapies and new strategies for drug discovery. The adult mammalian brain is a source of neural stem cells (NSC) found in both neurogenic and non-neurogenic zones but difficulties in culturing these hinders their use as research tools.

Here we show that NSCs can be efficiently grown in adherent cell cultures when angiogenic signals are included in the medium. These signals include both anti-angiogenic factors (the soluble form of the Notch receptor ligand, Dll4) and pro-angiogenic factors (the Tie-2 receptor ligand, Angiopoietin 2). These treatments support the self renewal state of cultured NSCs and expression of the transcription factor Hes3, which also identifies the cancer stem cell population in human tumors. In an organotypic slice model, angiogenic factors maintain vascular structure and increase the density of dopamine neuron processes.

We demonstrate new properties of adult NSCs and a method to generate efficient adult NSC cultures from various central nervous system areas. These findings will help establish cellular models relevant to cancer and regeneration.