In the adult rodent forebrain, astrocyte-like neural stem cells reside within the subventricular zone (SVZ) and give rise to progenitors and neuroblasts, which then undergo chain migration along the rostral migratory stream (RMS) to the olfactory bulb, where they mature into fully functional interneurons. Neurogenesis also occurs in the adult human SVZ, where neural precursors similar to the rodent astrocyte-like stem cell and neuroblast have been identified. A migratory pathway equivalent to the rodent RMS has also recently been described for the human forebrain. In the embryo, the guidance receptor neogenin and its ligands netrin-1 and RGMa regulate important neurogenic processes, including differentiation and migration. We show in this study that neogenin is expressed on neural stem cells (B cells), progenitor cells (C cells), and neuroblasts (A cells) in the adult mouse SVZ and RMS. We also show that netrin-1 and RGMa are ideally placed within the neurogenic niche to activate neogenin function. Moreover, we find that neogenin and RGMa are also present in the neurogenic regions of the human adult forebrain. We show that neogenin is localized to cells displaying stem cell (B cell)-like characteristics within the adult human SVZ and RMS and that RGMa is expressed by the same or a closely apposed cell population. This study supports the hypothesis that, as in the embryo, neogenin regulates fundamental signalling pathways important for neurogenesis in the adult mouse and human forebrain.
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