NG2⁺ cells feed the brain

The brain is a rapidly changing landscape. After birth, its alterations require a source of progenitors that can form different cell types. In an attempt to characterize these progenitors, Aguirre et al. (page 575) have identified a population of neural stem cells (NSCs) that make inhibitory neurons in the postnatal mouse brain.

Neurogenesis is common in an area of the brain known as the subventricular zone (SVZ), so this seemed like a likely place to find NSCs. The same laboratory had previously shown that cells expressing the NG2 proteoglycan, once thought to give rise only to oligodendrocytes, could form active neurons in vitro. They now find that a portion of NG2-expressing cells that reside in the SVZ are these NSCs, which contribute to neurogenesis in the postnatal brain.

Some of the SVZ NG2^+...