Identification and selection of neural progenitor cells

Neural stem cells (NSCs) are self-renewing and multipotential neural progenitor cells, which have received strong attention as potential tools to treat the injured or diseased brain. To develop therapeutic strategies intended to capitalize upon the plasticity and propagability of NSCs, we need both to better understand their biology, and to develop better means for their prospective identification and harvest. We summerize here recent findings from our laboratories. Specifically, we describe the prospective identification of NSCs, using fluorescent reporters placed under the control of the nestin enhancer. Together, these findings provide us both new conceptual and operational strategies for studying NSCs, and as such should greatly accelerate their development for the treatment of neurologic disease.