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Amphiregulin is a mitogen for adult neural stem cells
Author(s) -
Falk Anna,
Frisén Jonas
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of neuroscience research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.72
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1097-4547
pISSN - 0360-4012
DOI - 10.1002/jnr.10410
Subject(s) - amphiregulin , neural stem cell , neurosphere , epidermal growth factor , neurogenesis , stem cell , biology , choroid plexus , microbiology and biotechnology , adult stem cell , neuroepithelial cell , neuroscience , medicine , in vitro , cell culture , endothelial stem cell , central nervous system , biochemistry , genetics
Neurons are continuously generated from stem cells in the hippocampus and along the lateral ventricles in the adult brain. Neural stem cells can be propagated in vitro in the presence of epidermal growth factor (EGF) or fibroblast growth factor‐2. We report here that amphiregulin, a growth factor related to EGF, is a mitogen for adult mouse neural stem cells in vitro and displays potency similar to that of EGF. Neural stem cell cultures can be initiated and the cells propagated as efficiently in the presence of amphiregulin only as with EGF. Furthermore, we show that amphiregulin is expressed in the choroid plexus of the ventricular system and in the hippocampus in the adult brain, suggesting that amphiregulin may participate in the regulation of neural stem cell proliferation and neurogenesis in the adult brain. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.