本期一篇文章報告了研究人員發(fā)展出的一種用來在人身上尋找和跟蹤神經(jīng)干細(xì)胞和神經(jīng)前體細(xì)胞(NPCs)的無創(chuàng)傷方法,。因為成年哺乳動物繼續(xù)產(chǎn)生新的神經(jīng)前體細(xì)胞,，所以檢測它們是研究治療被神經(jīng)疾病或創(chuàng)傷損壞的神經(jīng)組織的重要的第一步,。這個方法也可能用于診斷與治療心理障礙。Louis N. Manganas和文章共同作者首先找到了一個生物標(biāo)志物(一個識別具體細(xì)胞類型的分子),，這使他們能夠在活人的大腦中檢測神經(jīng)前體細(xì)胞的數(shù)量,。
他們用質(zhì)子磁共振譜儀找到主要出現(xiàn)于神經(jīng)前體細(xì)胞中的一個獨(dú)特譜，鑒定出這個代謝生物標(biāo)志物,。然后他們發(fā)展了一個信號處理方法,，來檢測這個生物標(biāo)志物的特征譜，并且在成年人的海馬體中找到了該標(biāo)記物,，從而找到了神經(jīng)前體細(xì)胞,。海馬體是生成神經(jīng)前體細(xì)胞的已知區(qū)域之一，在記憶形成中起重要的作用,。該區(qū)域也是阿爾茨海默氏癥以及病毒性腦炎導(dǎo)致的缺氧和發(fā)炎首先破壞的區(qū)域,。這一發(fā)現(xiàn)有益于干細(xì)胞、神經(jīng)學(xué)和精神病學(xué)的研究,，而且將使正常人體生理與疾病病理過程中的神經(jīng)元發(fā)育研究工作成為可能,。（科學(xué)時報）
原始出處:
Science 9 November 2007:
Vol. 318. no. 5852, pp. 980 - 985
DOI: 10.1126/science.1147851
Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Identifies Neural Progenitor Cells in the Live Human Brain
Louis N. Manganas,1,3 Xueying Zhang,1 Yao Li,1 Raphael D. Hazel,1,2 S. David Smith,2 Mark E. Wagshul,1 Fritz Henn,2 Helene Benveniste,1,2 Petar M. Djuri,1 Grigori Enikolopov,3* Mirjana Maleti-Savati1,3*
The identification of neural stem and progenitor cells (NPCs) by in vivo brain imaging could have important implications for diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic purposes. We describe a metabolic biomarker for the detection and quantification of NPCs in the human brain in vivo. We used proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to identify and characterize a biomarker in which NPCs are enriched and demonstrated its use as a reference for monitoring neurogenesis. To detect low concentrations of NPCs in vivo, we developed a signal processing method that enabled the use of magnetic resonance spectroscopy for the analysis of the NPC biomarker in both the rodent brain and the hippocampus of live humans. Our findings thus open the possibility of investigating the role of NPCs and neurogenesis in a wide variety of human brain disorders.
1 SUNY Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA.
2 Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11719, USA.
3 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: [email protected] (G.E.); [email protected] (M.M.-S.).
