Affiliations: National Neuroscience Institute, Singapore, National
University of Singapore, and Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Note: [] Correspondence to: 11 Jalan Tan Tock Seng, Singapore 308433.
Tel.: +65 6357 7533; Fax: +65 6256 9178; E-mail: [email protected] or
[email protected]
Abstract: After cerebral strokes and traumatic brain injuries (TBIs), there is
a striking amount of neurological recovery in the following months and years,
despite often-permanent structural damage. Though the mechanisms underlying
such recovery are not fully understood, properties of plasticity of the central
nervous system (CNS), such as the reorganization of the pre-existing network
and axonal sprouting have been implicated in the recovery. With the recent
evidences that neurogenesis occurs in the adult brain, and neural stem cells
(NSCs) reside in the adult CNS, the involvement of newly generated neuronal
cells in the recovery following injury to the CNS remains to be established.
Neurogenesis is increased bilaterally in the dentate gyrus (DG) and the
subventicular zone (SVZ) after cerebral strokes and TBIs, and new neuronal
cells are generated at the sites of injury, where they replace some of the
degenerated nerve cells. Newly generated neuronal cells at the sites of injury
may represent an attempt by the CNS to regenerate itself after injury, whereas
the increased neurogenesis in the DG and SVZ would also contribute to the CNS
plasticity. Thus, injury-induced neurogenesis may contribute to the recovery
and plasticity of the CNS.
