Ketamine-Induced Toxicity in Neurons Differentiated from Neural Stem Cells Markers of cellular proliferation and differentiation, mitochondrial health, cell death/damage, and oxidative damage were monitored to determine the effects of ketamine on neural stem cell proliferation and neural stem cell differentiation. [Mol Neurobiol] Abstract Microglia-Derived IL-1β Triggers p53-Mediated Cell Cycle Arrest and Apoptosis in Neural Precursor Cells Scientists investigated the mechanisms by which microglia affect neural precursor cell (NPC) proliferation and survival. Importantly, they demonstrated that interleukin-1β (IL-1β) produced by lipopolysaccharide/interferon-γ-activated microglia is necessary to induce cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in NPCs in vitro. [Cell Death Dis] Full Article Inhibition of Hypoxia Inducible Factors Combined with All-Trans Retinoic Acid Treatment Enhances Glial Transdifferentiation of Neuroblastoma Cells In neuroblastoma cell lines, the combination of all-trans retinoic acid with HIF1A or EPAS1 silencing led to an acquired glial-cell phenotype and enhanced expression of glial-cell differentiation markers. [Sci Rep] Full Article Co-Existence of Intact Stemness and Priming of Neural Differentiation Programs in mES Cells Lacking Trim71 Investigators demonstrated that Tripartite motif (Trim)71 is not involved in regulatory networks of pluripotency but regulates neural differentiation. Loss of Trim71 in murine embryonic stem (mES) cells leaves stemness and self-maintenance of these cells intact, but many genes required for neural development are up-regulated at the same time. [Sci Rep] Full Article Ionizing Radiation Perturbs Cell Cycle Progression of Neural Precursors in the Subventricular Zone without Affecting Their Long-Term Self-Renewal Subventricular zone neural stem/progenitor cells isolated from newborn mouse pups were analyzed for proliferation, self-renewal, and differentiation, shortly after irradiation. [ASN Neuro] Full Article Viability and Neuronal Differentiation of Neural Stem Cells Encapsulated in Silk Fibroin Hydrogel Functionalized with an IKVAV Peptide Both unmodified and modified silk fibroin hydrogels were obtained, through sonication, with mechanical stiffness comparable to that of brain tissue. Human neural stem cells were encapsulated in both hydrogels and the effects of IKVAV peptide conjugation on cell viability and neural differentiation were assessed. [J Tissue Eng Regen Med] Abstract Effect of Testosterone on Neuronal Morphology and Neuritic Growth of Fetal Lamb Hypothalamus-Preoptic Area and Cerebral Cortex in Primary Culture Cells derived from the hypothalamus-preoptic area and cerebral cortex of lamb fetuses were grown in primary culture to examine the direct morphological effects of testosterone on these cellular components. [PLoS One] Full Article Dual Polarization of Microglia Isolated from Mixed Glial Cell Cultures Researchers compared the immunological states between microglia isolated by mixed glial culture system (MGCS) and microglia isolated by magnetic activated cell sorting (MACS). They showed that microglia isolated by MGCS exhibit a stronger immune-activated state than microglia isolated by MACS. [J Neurosci Res] Abstract Conversion of Adipose Tissue-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells to Neural Stem Cell-Like Cells by a Single Transcription Factor, Sox2 When the authors introduced the Sox2 gene into adipose tissue–derived mesenchymal stem cells by retrovirus, they exhibited a typical neural stem cell (NSC)-like morphology, and could be passaged continuously, and expressed NSC specific markers Sox2 and Pax6. [Cell Reprogram] Abstract |