Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, Volume 1049, May 2005, Stem Cell Biology: Development and Plasticity

Cover art: Various cell surface receptors mediate an intimate dialogue between stem cells and their environment and can modulate the behavior of both in decisive ways. The over-expression of such molecules in neural stem cells can lead to elaborate neurite outgrowth from differentiating neurons. The examples shows a large neuron (body size over 30 um) in culture over-expressing the neural cell recognition molecule L1 and communicating with other cellular partners. Nuclei of cultured cells are visualized by the fluorescent marker DAPI (blue) and the neurons by immunofluorescent staining against the early neuronal antigen BIII-tubulin (red). Microphotograph taken by Dr. Ying-Zhi Xu from the Ourednik Lab of Stem Cell Plasticity and Neural Transplantation, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa.