Neural stem cells after brain injury: do they originate developmentally from neural tube, neural crest, or both?

Although previous studies in the field of NSPC biology have focused on neuroepithelial cells that originate from the neural tube, our recent studies demonstrated that ischemiainduced NSPCs (iNSPCs) are induced in stroke-affected areas and originate, at least in part, from brain pericytes residing near blood vessels that are distributed from the leptomeninges to the cortex. Because brain pericytes, including the leptomeninges, are neural crest derivatives and iNSPCs express various neural crest markers, these findings provide a novel concept that neural crest-derived cells can play a crucial role in central nervous system (CNS) as NSPCs after brain injury.