These cells, called ependymal cells, provide homes to neural stem cells and can play a key role in preventing hydrocephalus, the potentially deadly build-up of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain.

“We demonstrate that DNGR-1-lineage-traced ependymal cells arise early in embryogenesis (E11.5) and subsequently spread across the lining of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-filled compartments to form ...

The team first generated Tsukushi knockout mice, and showed that such animals developed communicating hydrocephalus, meaning that CSF can flow between ventricles, but is blocked from exiting.

These are part of the ependymal cells that line the walls of compartments in the brain and spinal cord that hold cerebrospinal fluid.

National Institutes of Natural Sciences image: Increases in blood and CSF [Na+] activate Nax in the OVLT, and induce lactate (Lac-) and H+ release from Nax-expressing ependymal cells through MCT.

This study provides compelling evidence of the limited regenerative capacity of ependymal cells in adult primate spinal cord injury and underscores the transdifferentiation potential of astrocytes.

DNGR-1-tracing marks an ependymal cell subset with damage-responsive neural stem cell potential. Developmental Cell, 2022; 57 (16): 1957 DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2022.07.012 ...

Nagoya, Japan - Some cells in the body contain long thin structures called cilia on their surface, which exhibit a whip-like motion that promotes the flow of fluid past the cell.

To conduct the study, researchers used cutting-edge single-cell RNA sequencing and advanced brain-mapping tools developed through NIH's BRAIN Initiative to map over 1.2 million brain cells from ...