Neural stem cells are maintained in the adult mouse brain within the subventricular zone (SVZ) and help to repair brain damage. In response to demyelination, for example, neural progenitors emigrate from the SVZ and help to repopulate the demyelinated lesion. Here (), Myriam Cayre and colleagues investigate progenitor cell emigration from the SVZ in response to lysolecithin-induced focal demyelination in the mouse corpus callosum. The researchers report that demyelination in the corpus callosum triggers vascular remodelling in the SVZ. The remodelled vessels and the neural progenitors exiting from the SVZ are closely associated, they report, and inhibition of post-lesional angiogenesis reduces the migration of progenitor cells towards the lesion. Notably, netrin 1, a factor involved in axonal guidance during brain development, is upregulated within the SVZ after corpus callosum demyelination and is involved in both local angiogenesis and progenitor cell emigration. Together, these results identify netrin 1 as a potential target for the development of therapeutic strategies for brain repair.
