The influence of hypothalamic lesions on the implantation of neurosphere-derived cells

• Grant number: 14/06914-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2014
• End date: November 30, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - Physiology of Organs and Systems
• Principal Investigator: Isaias Glezer
• Grantee: Seo Young Chang
• Host Institution: Instituto Nacional de Farmacologia (INFAR). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The process of hypothalamic adult neurogenesis has been recently described. Although this site has been lesscharacterized compared to the classical adult brain neurogenic niches, there are strong evidences that theneurogenic niche of the hypothalamus is able to generate effector neurons that regulate energy balance. Theneurogenic process of this brain region is likely to be stimulated under certain conditions and the hypothalamus isreceptive to the progenitor stem cell transplantation, thus revealing its ability to promote a favorablemicroenvironment for the survival and differentiation of new neurons. Since loss and renewal of cells mayparticipate as regulatory mechanisms of the hypothalamus function, it is relevant to study the factors that enableor interfere with transplantation of neural progenitors in this brain region. The determination of conditions thatprovide a favorable microenvironment for cell grafting and differentiation may help to elucidate the cellulardynamics that operates in this brain region. This project aims to evaluate whether an injury-related environmentin the hypothalamus is permissive to the implantation of cells derived from hypothalamic neurospheres.