Development of Ependymal and Postnatal Neural Stem Cells and Their Origin from a Common Embryonic Progenitor

Abstract

Summary: The adult mouse brain contains an extensive neurogenic niche in the lateral walls of the lateral ventricles. This epithelium, which has a unique pinwheel organization, contains multiciliated ependymal (E1) cells and neural stem cells (B1). This postnatal germinal epithelium develops from the embryonic ventricular zone, but the lineage relationship between E1 and B1 cells remains unknown. Distinct subpopulations of radial glia (RG) cells in late embryonic and early postnatal development either expand their apical domain >11-fold to form E1 cells or retain small apical domains that coalesce into the centers of pinwheels to form B1 cells. Using independent methods of lineage tracing, we show that individual RG cells can give rise to clones containing E1 and B1 cells. This study reveals key developmental steps in the formation of the postnatal germinal niche and the shared cellular origin of E1 and B1 cells. : Redmond et al. examine the transformation of the embryonic ventricular zone into the largest germinal niche of the adult rodent forebrain. They trace the origin of ependymal and neural stem cells to a common embryonic progenitor and follow the postnatal apical maturation that results in this niche’s characteristic pinwheels. Keywords: neurogenesis, neural development, adult neurogenesis, ependymal cell, neural stem cell