Stem Cell Aging? Blame It on the Niche

The molecular basis for the neural stem cell quiescence-to-activation transition has become an important focus in the study of adult neurogenesis. Recently in Cell, Kalamakis et al. (2019) Kalamakis G. Brüne D. Ravichandran S. Bolz J. Fan W. Ziebell F. Stiehl S. Catalá-Martinez F. Kupke J. Zhao S. et al. Quiescence modulates stem cell maintenance and regenerative capacity in the aging brain. Cell. 2019; 176 ( Published online March 7, 2019) Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (1) Google Scholar show that aged neural stem cells face greater barriers to exiting quiescence, imposed by the niche through inflammation and altered Wnt signaling