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Neurobiology

Self-repair in the brain

Nature volume 405, pages 893–895 (2000)Cite this article

In tissues that can repair themselves, such as skin and liver, dead cells can be replaced either by the proliferation of nearby cells or by the activation of resident stem cells — undifferentiated cells with the potential to generate many different cell types. The brain apparently lacks this regenerative capacity, making it particularly vulnerable to injury or disease. Cells with stem-cell-like properties are likely to occur throughout the adult central nervous system, but they normally give rise to neurons in only a few, restricted areas. These cells might represent a dormant capacity for neuronal repair, if they could be mobilized to generate new functional neurons in response to injury. On page 951 of this issue, Magavi, Leavitt and Macklis1 report the first intriguing evidence that this may be possible.

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Figure 1: Does the brain have a dormant capacity for self-repair?

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  1. Wallenberg Neuroscience Center, Lund University, Sölvegatan 17, Lund, S-223 62, Sweden

    Anders Björklund & Olle Lindvall

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  1. Anders Björklund
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  2. Olle Lindvall
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Björklund, A., Lindvall, O. Self-repair in the brain. Nature 405, 893–895 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35016175

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