Molecular time signalling controls stem cells during brain developmen

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have succeeded in explaining how stem cells in the brain change to allow one type of stem cell to produce different cell types at different stages. In a study being published in the journal Neuron , researchers show that the signal molecule TGF-beta acts as a time signal that regulates the nerve stem cells' potential at different stages of the brain's development - knowledge that may be significant for future pharmaceutical development. The human brain consists of thousands of different types of nerve cells that are all formed out of what in simple terms can be described as immature stem cells. It has long been known that the neural stem cells change as the human brain develops and ages. One type of stem cell can produce multiple types of nerve cells at different stages of the brain's development. In this process, ageing stem cells also gradually become more limited in their development potential and lose the ability to develop the maturated cell types that form during the early stages. How neural stem cell identity and potential is regulated over time has been poorly understood.