What is the Role of the Vasculature in the Neural Stem Cell Niche?

Abstract

Evaluation of: Ramirez-Castillejo C, Sanchez-Sanchez F, Andreu-Agullo C et al.: Pigment epithelium-derived factor is a niche signal for neural stem cell renewal. Nat. Neurosci. 9(3), 331–339 (2006) [3]. Vascular cells are essential components of the cytoarchitecture of multiple stem cell niches, although their exact role(s) in mediating cell–cell, cell–matrix or paracrine interactions are not clearly defined. In the neural stem cell niche, vascular endothelial cells are thought to secrete soluble factors and extracellular matrix proteins that can modulate the proliferation and potential of neural stem cells and progenitors within their microenvironment. Current studies, such as those reported by Ramirez-Castillejo and colleagues focus on elucidating the molecular regulation of neural stem cell phenotype and function by one such endothelial cell-derived effector, pigment epithelium-derived factor. This work and its implications are discussed herein.

Keywords::

• microenvironment
• neural stem cells
• pigment epithelium-derived factor
• stem cell niche