doi:10.1155/2012/820790 Review Article Neural Stem Cells in the Diabetic Brain

Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Experimental diabetes in rodents rapidly affects the neurogenic niches of the adult brain. Moreover, behavioral disorders suggest that a similar dysfunction of the neurogenic niches most likely affects diabetic and prediabetic patients. Here, we review our present knowledge about adult neural stem cells, the methods used for their study in diabetic models, and the effects of experimental diabetes. Variations in diet and even a short hyperglycemia profoundly change the structure and the proliferative dynamics of the neurogenic niches. Moreover, alterations of diabetic neurogenic niches appear to be associated with diabetic cognitive disorders. Available evidence supports the hypothesis that, in the adult, early changes of the neurogenic niches might enhance development of the diabetic disease. 1. Old and New Neurogenic Niches in the Adult Brain Adult neurogenesis has been known since the 1960s [1]. Although the two main neurogenic niches, the dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus and the telencephalic subventric-ular zone (SVZ), were described in those years, intensiv