Benjamin W Lindsey, Sabrina Di Donato, Jan Kaslin and Vincent Tropepe

Vertebrate adult neurogenesis can be modulated through changes in proliferation, survival or differentiation, and this appears to be associated with distinct functional requirements for new neurons (Grandel & Brand, 2013). Outside of mammals and birds however, there is little understanding of how adult neurogenesis may function as a biological substrate to modify species behaviour or information processing.

Studies of neurogenesis in the adult zebrafish forebrain have demonstrated that the cell types within neurogenic niches consist of populations of proliferative and non-proliferative glia that can be classified using immunohistochemical markers, with the stem/progenitor phenotype commonly having a radial glial (RG) profile (Ganz et al., 2010; Marz et al., 2010). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies have revealed that the composition of different adult niches is further determined by the presence and frequency of seven distinct cell types (Type IIa–Type VI), with pallial niches characterised by Type IIa RG-like cells at the ventricular surface and subpallial niches composed of layers of elongated Type III cells reminiscent of neuroepithelial (NE)-like profiles (Lindsey et al., 2012). Accordingly, it has been documented that the cerebellum and optic tectum (TeO) also retain stem/progenitors with NE features similar to early development (Kaslin et al., 2009, 2013; Alunni et al., 2010; Ito et al., 2010), though ultrastructural evidence for this is lacking.

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Lindsey et al., 2014 (954 KB)