Neurogenesis and neural progenitor migration after stroke

Ischemic stroke is a leading cause of death and long-term disability worldwide. However, repairing damaged brain tissue is not feasible with current treatments. In recent years, it became clear that specific regions of the adult brain such as the subventricular zone (SVZ) and the subgranular zone (SGZ) are capable of responding to various stimuli including injurious signals from other brain areas by increasing the proliferation of resident neural progenitors. Progenitor proliferation and the migration of the newly formed neural progenitors towards the injured sites are regarded as an important endogenous repair process although current evidence indicates that the proliferation and migration activities are far from sufficient for satisfactory tissue repair. Thus, understanding the endogenous regenerative mechanism including proliferation and migration of neural progenitors is imperative for promoting tissue repair and regenerating an ischemia-injured brain structure.