Search results for "NEUROGENESIS"
showing 10 items of 336 documents
Cellular Plasticity in the Adult Murine Piriform Cortex: Continuous Maturation of Dormant Precursors Into Excitatory Neurons
2017
Neurogenesis in the healthy adult murine brain is based on proliferation and integration of stem/progenitor cells and is thought to be restricted to 2 neurogenic niches: the subventricular zone and the dentate gyrus. Intriguingly, cells expressing the immature neuronal marker doublecortin (DCX) and the polysialylated-neural cell adhesion molecule reside in layer II of the piriform cortex. Apparently, these cells progressively disappear along the course of ageing, while their fate and function remain unclear. Using DCX-CreERT2/Flox-EGFP transgenic mice, we demonstrate that these immature neurons located in the murine piriform cortex do not vanish in the course of aging, but progressively res…
Extensive migration of young neurons into the infant human frontal lobe
2016
Building the human brain As the brain develops, neurons migrate from zones of proliferation to their final locations, where they begin to build circuits. Paredes et al. have discovered that shortly after birth, a group of neurons that proliferates near the ventricles migrates in chains alongside circulatory vessels into the frontal lobes (see the Perspective by McKenzie and Fishell). Young neurons that migrate postnatally into the anterior cingulate cortex then develop features of inhibitory interneurons. The number of migratory cells decreases over the first 7 months of life, and by 2 years of age, migratory cells are not evident. Any damage during migration, such as hypoxia, may affect th…
NMDA receptor antagonist treatment increases the production of new neurons in the aged rat hippocampus
2002
The production of new neurons declines during adulthood and persists, although at very low levels, in the aged hippocampus. Since neurogenesis in young adults has been related to learning and memory, its reduction may contribute to the age-related impairments in these abilities. Adrenalectomy (ADX) enhances neurogenesis in the aged hippocampus, although it also induces neuronal cell death. Since the administration of an NMDA receptor antagonist enhances neurogenesis in young adult rats without deleterious morphological effects, we have tested whether neurogenesis could be reactivated in aged rats. Our study shows that cell proliferation, cell death, neurogenesis and the number of radial gli…
Neuronal precursor-specific activity of a human doublecortin regulatory sequence.
2005
The doublecortin (DCX) gene encodes a 40-kDa microtubule-associated protein specifically expressed in neuronal precursors of the developing and adult CNS. Due to its specific expression pattern, attention was drawn to DCX as a marker for neuronal precursors and neurogenesis, thereby underscoring the importance of its promoter identification and promoter analysis. Here, we analysed the human DCX regulatory sequence and confined it to a 3.5-kb fragment upstream of the ATG start codon. We demonstrate by transient transfection experiments that this fragment is sufficient and specific to drive expression of reporter genes in embryonic and adult neuronal precursors. The activity of this regulator…
Dual roles of Aβ in proliferative processes in an amyloidogenic model of Alzheimer’s disease
2017
Alzheimer’s disease is a major neurodegenerative disorder that leads to severe cognitive deficits in the elderly population. Over the past two decades, multiple studies have focused on elucidating the causative factors underlying memory defects in Alzheimer’s patients. In this regard, new evidence linking Alzheimer’s disease-related pathology and neuronal stem cells suggests that hippocampal neurogenesis impairment is an important factor underlying these cognitive deficits. However, because of conflicting results, the impact of Aβ pathology on neurogenesis/gliogenesis remains unclear. Here, we investigated the effect of Aβ on neuronal and glial proliferation by using an APP/PS1 transgenic m…
Inhibition of adult hippocampal neurogenesis disrupts contextual learning but spares spatial working memory, long-term conditional rule retention and…
2009
Neurogenesis in the adult dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus has been implicated in neural plasticity and cognition but the specific functions contributed by adult-born neurons remain controversial. Here, we have explored the relationship between adult hippocampal neurogenesis and memory function using tasks which specifically require the participation of the DG. In two separate experiments several groups of rats were exposed to fractionated ionizing radiation (two sessions of 7 Gy each on consecutive days) applied either to the whole brain or focally, aiming at a region overlying the hippocampus. The immunocytochemical assays showed that the radiation significantly reduced the expressio…
Expression of the transcription factor Pax6 in the adult rat dentate gyrus
2005
The transcription factor Pax 6 is expressed in precursor cells during embryonic CNS development, and it plays an important role in the regulation of cell proliferation and neuronal fate determination. Pax 6-expressing cells are also present in the adult hippocampal dentate gyrus and subventricular zone/rostral migratory stream, regions in which neuronal precursors exist during adult life. In the adult dentate gyrus, precursor cells are located in the innermost portion of the granule cell layer, and Pax 6-expressing nuclei are most abundant in this region. To examine the putative role of Pax 6 in adult hippocampal neurogenesis, we have studied the proliferative activity, distribution, and ph…
Chronic fluoxetine treatment in middle-aged rats induces changes in the expression of plasticity-related molecules and in neurogenesis
2012
Abstract Background Antidepressants promote neuronal structural plasticity in young-adult rodents, but little is known of their effects on older animals. The polysialylated form of the neural cell adhesion molecule (PSA-NCAM) may mediate these structural changes through its anti-adhesive properties. PSA-NCAM is expressed in immature neurons and in a subpopulation of mature interneurons and its expression is modulated by antidepressants in the telencephalon of young-adult rodents. Results We have analyzed the effects of 14 days of fluoxetine treatment on the density of puncta expressing PSA-NCAM and different presynaptic markers in the medial prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and amygdala of mi…
Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ ligands regulate neural stem cell proliferation and differentiation in vitro and in vivo.
2011
Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) belongs to a family of ligand-activated nuclear receptors and its ligands are known to control many physiological and pathological situations. Its role in the central nervous system has been under intense analysis during the last years. Here we show a novel function for PPARγ in controlling stem cell expansion in the adult mammalian brain. Adult rats treated with pioglitazone, a specific ligand of PPARγ, had elevated numbers of proliferating progenitor cells in the subventricular zone and the rostral migratory stream. Electron microscopy analysis also showed important changes in the subventricular zone ultrastructure of pioglitazone-t…
Chronic non-invasive glucocorticoid administration decreases polysialylated neural cell adhesion molecule expression in the adult rat dentate gyrus
2004
The expression of the polysialylated neural cell adhesion molecule (PSA-NCAM) is increased in the hippocampus after chronic restraint stress (CRS) and may play a permissive role in structural changes that include dendrite reorganization in dentate gyrus (DG) and CA3 pyramidal neurons and suppression of neurogenesis in DG. We report that chronic oral corticosterone (CORT) administration decreases the number of PSA-NCAM immunoreactive granule neurons in the adult rat dentate gyrus, and the available evidence suggests that this is an indirect effect of CORT, possibly involving excitatory amino acids, that may not be directly related to neurogenesis. Because CORT treatment reduces but does not …