Not-so-ageing Brain

For neurons – core cells of the brain and spinal cord – to develop, stem cells in our brain respond to molecular signals found within the cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) that circulates in the brain’s cavities. CSF is produced by areas of the brain called the choroid plexus, which have recently been shown as key components of the stem-cell environment. During our lifetime, changes within the choroid plexus (and therefore the CSF) affect how our stem cells develop. As we get older, signals within our CSF change, causing stem cells to divide at a slower rate. This leads to fewer new neurons developing. However, researchers looking in mice, saw that they could stimulate growth of adult stem cells by immersing them in ‘young’ CSF, causing older stem cells to be stimulated to divide like the young cells and create new neurons (pictured in red).

Written by Katie Panteli

Katie Panteli

Writer

Katie, a Warwick Biomed graduate, works for a science-publishing house in London with some of the world's most respected scientific minds. She's most interested in human biology, anything and everything that makes us tick.

• Image from work by Violeta Silva-Vargas and colleagues, Biozentrum, University of Basel
• Biozentrum, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
• Image copyright held by original authors
• Research published in Cell Stem Cell, July 2016