Long-Lived Neural Stem Cells Identified in Living Mice

New, unpublished results show some of the cells produce new neurons for up to 90 days, much longer than a previously identified set of neural stem cells that only generate neurons for a month or two.

Written byAshley Yeager

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ABOVE: Newborn neurons (yellow, orange, and red) sit next to a neural stem cell (green). The neurons grew in the hippocampus of an adult mouse over the course of two months. COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY OF ZURICH

Neuroscientist Gregor Pilz of the University of Zurich has watched stem cells turn into neurons in the brains of young, living mice—a feat that not too long ago was considered impossible. His latest experiments add to those earlier observations, showing that mice have yet another population of self-renewing stem cells in their brains and some of those cells are much longer-lived than the first ones he documented. If confirmed, the result, which Pilz discussed today (October 22) at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Chicago, could help reveal what happens to neurogenesis—the generation of new neurons—as animals age.

Past studies have identified different populations of neural stem cells but tracking what happens to them ...

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Meet the Author

Ashley Yeager
Ashley started at The Scientist in 2018. Before joining the staff, she worked as a freelance editor and writer, a writer at the Simons Foundation, and a web producer at Science News, among other positions. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and a master’s degree in science writing from MIT. Ashley edits the Scientist to Watch and Profile sections of the magazine and writes news, features, and other stories for both online and print.
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