Nestin-Expressing Cells in the Human Hippocampus

Nestin, a protein of the intermediate filament family, is typical of undifferentiated neural stem and progenitor cells. The present report describes studies of nestin expression in the hippocampus of patients with epilepsy and identifies five types of nestin-immunopositive cells differing in terms of their morphological phenotype and immunological characteristics. These were cells with the phenotype of radial glial cells, bipolar cells, small dendritic cells, cells of the subependymal zone, and astrocyte-like cells. Two types of cell — radial gliocytes of the dentate fascia and NG2-immunopositive bipolar cells — can be regarded as neural precursors of different levels of commitment.