Flow of cerebrospinal fluid regulates neural stem cell division

(Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health) Stem cells in the brain can divide and mature into neurons participating in various brain functions, including memory. In a paper published in the journal 'Cell Stem Cell', scientists at Helmholtz Zentrum München and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) have shown how this works. They found that ion channels play a key role in mediating force signals to the neural stem cells to activate them.