Functional neurogenesis in the adult midbrain?

Neurogenesis in the adult brain occurs within the two principle neurogenic regions, the hippocampus and the SVZ of the lateral ventricles. The occurrence of adult neurogenesis in non-neurogenic regions including the midbrain remains controversial, but isolation of neural stem cells (NSCs) from several parts of the adult brain including the substantia nigra has been reported. Nevertheless it is unclear whether adult NSCs do have the capacity to produce functional dopaminergic neurons, the cell type lost in Parkinson's disease. We describe here the existence and characterization of NSC in the adult tegmentum (midb…