Adult neurogenesis 20 years later: Physiological function vs. brain repair

Two decades of intense investigation in the field of adult neurogenesis (AN) provided us with a fully renewed vision of brain plasticity, involving stem/progenitor cells capable of generating new neurons and glial cells throughout life. We know for sure that new neurons produced within canonical stem cell niches do play a significant role in cognitive tasks (learning/memory) operated by specific neural systems (Lepousez et al., 2013; Aimone et al., 2014). The fact that neural stem/progenitor cells (NSC) produce new elements that can integrate within some regions of the mature brain, replacing lost neurons/glial cells or adding to pre-existent neural circuits, appears extremely fascinating in the perspective of regenerative therapeutic approaches.