Hosawi, Manal, 2015-2016

Manal Hosawi
Manal
Hosawi

"The Role of VEGF in the Neural Stem and Progenitor cells in the Hippocampus"

Host Mentor: Tony Wyss-Coray, Ph.D.
Stanford University

Neurogenesis is the process of generating new neurons from undifferentiated neural stem and progenitor cells (NSPCs). Currently, the functional role of the NSPCs in the subgranular zone (SGZ) is largely attributed to the new neurons that NSPCs create. However, Recent study showed the hippocampal progenitors secrete large quantities of the essential growth factor VEGF in vitro and vivo. These findings arise the possibility that NSPCs could be an unexpected source of VEGF in the brain. Interestingly, after a seizure, the VEGF levels highly increase. However, researchers still debate whether these changes improve or hinder recovery after a seizure. Our study showed that NSPC-VEGF knockdown followed by the induction of seizures resulted in increasing the brain injury markers in hippocampus. This result suggested the importance of NSPC-VEGF expression in the recovery from seizure-related damage.