parvalbumin-expressing interneuron

Signal found to enhance survival of new brain cells

Implications for treating neurodegenerative disease, mental illness

November 13, 2013

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An illustration of parvalbumin-expressing interneurons delivering lifesaving chemical messengers to newborn neurons via tentacle-like synapses (credit: Mingxi Max Song and Gerald Sun/Johns Hopkins University)

A specialized type of brain cell, parvalbumin-expressing interneuron,  suppresses stem cell activity by  instructing nearby stem cells not to divide, by releasing a chemical signal called GABA. Paradoxically, in the process, it actually encourages the survival of the stem cells’ progeny, Johns Hopkinsresearchers report.

Understanding how these brain cells “decide” whether to live or die and how to behave is of special interest because changes in their activity are linked to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, mental illness and aging.

“We’ve identified a critical mechanism for keeping newborn neurons, or new brain cells, alive,” says Hongjun Song, Ph.D., professor of neurology and director of Johns Hopkins Medicine’s Institute for Cell Engineering’s Stem Cell Program. “Not only can this help us understand the underlying causes of some diseases, it may also be a step toward overcoming barriers to therapeutic cell transplantation.”