Source: University of California - Davis
Date: September 8, 2010
Summary:
In an unanticipated finding, researchers at the UC Davis School of Medicine have discovered that, during early adulthood, the brain produces new excitatory neurons, and that these neurons arise from non-neuronal support cells in an area of the brain that processes smell. The study, conducted in mice, is the first to demonstrate that pyramidal neurons in the mature brain stem are generated by precursors of glial cells — non-neuronal support cells — and that these new neurons likely are capable of transmitting information to widespread regions of the brain, said David Pleasure, a professor of neurology and pediatrics at the UC Davis School of Medicine and the study's author. "Pyramidal Neurons are Generated from Oligodendroglial Progenitor Cells in Adult Piriform Cortex," is published online this week in the Journal of Neuroscience.
