Effects of exercise on neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus and ability of learning and memory after hippocampus lesion in adult rats

Objective To explore the effects of exercise on dentate gyrus （DG） neurogenesis and the ability of learning and memory in hippocampus-lesioned adult rats. Methods Hippocampus lesion was produced by intrabippocampal microinjection of kainic acid （KA）. Bromodeoxyuridine （BrdU） was used to label dividing cells. Y maze test was used to evaluate the ability of learning and memory. Exercise was conducted in the form of forced running in a motor-driven running wheel. The speed of wheel revolution was regulated at 3 kinds of intensity： lightly running, moderately running, or heavily running. Results Hippocampus lesion could increase the number of BrdU-labeled DG cells, moderately running after lesion could further enhance the number of BrdU-labeled cells and decrease the error number （EN） in Y maze test, while neither lightly running, nor heavily running had such effects. There was a negative correlation between the number of DG BrdU-labeled cells and the EN in the Y maze test after running. Conclusion Moderate exercise could enhance the DG neurogenesis and ameliorate the ability of learning and memory in hippocampus-lesioned rats.     

Hippocampal cell genesis does not correlate with spatial learning ability in aged rats

Aging in rodents is known to lead to deficits in spatial learning and memory, including decreased performance on the Morris water maze. Recent attention has focused on the possible role of adult hippocampal neurogenesis in regulating spatial learning and memory. Therefore, in this study, we have examined levels of hippocampal cell proliferation in relation to water maze performance in aged and young male Fischer 344 rats. Aged rats (24 months old) were divided into aged-unimpaired and aged-impaired groups based on comparison with performance of young animals. Animals received five daily injections of the thymidine-analog bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) and were killed 1 week later. Total numbers of BrdU-labeled cells were quantified in the hippocampal dentate gyrus and hilus and were related to behavioral performance. Whereas aging was associated with a significant reduction in the number of BrdU-labeled cells, behavioral impairment with aging was not associated with a further reduction in BrdU labeling. In the context of aging, these finding do not support a direct relationship of adult hippocampal neurogenesis with learning and memory capability.     

Reduced hippocampal neurogenesis and skill reaching performance in adult Emx1 mutant mice

Mammalian homeobox gene Emx family is involved in the development of the rostral brain. Loss-of-function studies suggest that, despite the agenesis of corpus callosum, the Emx1 mutants display relatively modest defects compared to the Emx2 mutants. However, the role of the Emx1 in neurogenesis and brain function has never been explored. We used unbiased stereology to determine the number of proliferating progenitors and immature neurons in the adult neurogenic zones. Although previous studies have established that the formation of the dentate gyrus (DG) requires Emx2, we found that the adult Emx1 mutants also exhibited a smaller DG, reduced number of proliferating progenitor cells and immature neurons in the DG, in contrast to the indistinguishable level of neurogenesis in the subventricular zone when compared to the wild type mice. In view of the involvement of callosal projection neurons in mediating interhemispheric crosstalk and spatial coupling between the limbs, and the importance of DG in hippocampus-dependent function in learning and memory, we assessed motor and cognitive functions. Emx1 deletion impaired performance on a forelimb skill reaching task and attenuated training induced hippocampal neurogenesis, but it did not affect motor activity or basic motor function as evaluated in the open field, wire hanging and rotor rod tests. Unexpectedly, the adult Emx1 mutant mice did not exhibit impairment in spatial learning and memory in the Barnes maze test. Our data suggest that deletion of the Emx1 gene reduces hippocampal neurogenesis and affects higher motor function that requires extensive learning.     

Running increases neurogenesis without retinoic acid receptor activation in the adult mouse dentate gyrus

Both vitamin A deficiency and high doses of retinoids can result in learning and memory impairments, depression as well as decreases in cell proliferation, neurogenesis and cell survival. Physical activity enhances hippocampal neurogenesis and can also exert an antidepressant effect. Here we elucidate a putative link between running, retinoid signaling, and neurogenesis in hippocampus. Adult transgenic reporter mice designed to detect ligand-activated retinoic acid receptors (RAR) or retinoid X receptors (RXR) were used to localize the distribution of activated RAR or RXR at the single-cell level in the brain. Two months of voluntary wheel-running induced an increase in hippocampal neurogenesis as indicated by an almost two-fold increase in doublecortin-immunoreactive cells. Running activity was correlated with neurogenesis. Under basal conditions a distinct pattern of RAR-activated cells was detected in the granule cell layer of the dentate gyrus (DG), thalamus, and cerebral cortex layers 3-4 and to a lesser extent in hippocampal pyramidal cell layers CA1-CA3. Running did not change the number of RAR-activated cells in the DG. There was no correlation between running and RAR activation or between RAR activation and neurogenesis in the DG of hippocampus. Only a few scattered activated retinoid X receptors were found in the DG under basal conditions and after wheel-running, but RXR was detected in other areas such as in the hilus region of hippocampus and in layer VI of cortex cerebri. RAR agonists affect mood in humans and reduce neurogenesis, learning and memory in animal models. In our study, long-term running increased neurogenesis but did not alter RAR ligand activation in the DG in individually housed mice. Thus, our data suggest that the effects of exercise on neurogenesis and other plasticity changes in the hippocampal formation are mediated by mechanisms that do not involve retinoid receptor activation.     

Mice in an enriched environment learn more flexibly because of adult hippocampal neurogenesis

We here show that living in a stimulus‐rich environment (ENR) improves water maze learning with respect to specific key indicators that in previous loss‐of‐function experiments have been shown to rely on adult hippocampal neurogenesis. Analyzing the strategies employed by mice to locate the hidden platform in the water maze revealed that ENR facilitated task acquisition by increasing the probability to use effective search strategies. ENR also enhanced the animals’ behavioral flexibility, when the escape platform was moved to a new location. Treatment with temozolomide, which is known to reduce adult neurogenesis, abolished the effects of ENR on both acquisition and flexibility, while leaving other aspects of water maze learning untouched. These characteristic effects and interdependencies were not seen in parallel experiments with voluntary wheel running (RUN), a second pro‐neurogenic behavioral stimulus. Since the histological assessment of adult neurogenesis is by necessity an end‐point measure, the levels of neurogenesis over the course of the experiment can only be inferred and the present study focused on behavioral parameters as analytical endpoints. Although the correlation of physical activity with precursor cell proliferation and of learning and the survival of new neurons is well established, how the specific functional effects described here relate to dynamic changes in the stem cell niche remains to be addressed. Nevertheless, our findings support the hypothesis that adult neurogenesis is a critical mechanism underlying the beneficial effects of leading an active live, rich in experiences. © 2015 The Authors Hippocampus Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

氨甲酰化促红细胞生成素衍生物对小鼠低氧脑损伤保护作用的研究

目的：观察氦甲酰化促红细胞生成素衍生物（CEPO）对低氧所致小鼠海马损伤的保护作用。方法：成年雄性C57／B6小鼠置低氧（8％O2）分别处理0,5、1．5、3和6h,记录各组小鼠复氧后连续6及30d的Y迷宫训练错误反应次数。用免疫组化检测海马神经元核蛋白（NeuN）。在此基础上,将经Y迷宫训练筛选的小鼠低氧处理6h,并分为3组：CEPO组、促红细胞生成素（EPO）组和生理盐水组,隔日1次分别腹腔注射CEPO、EPO和生理盐水,共15次。第10和30天对小鼠进行Y迷宫测试,记录错误反应次数。用NeuN免疫组化检测给予药物干预2次（72h）后各组小鼠海马神经元的脱失状况。结果：①低氧处理的小鼠学习能力明显下降,以低氧3h组和6h组尤为明显;第30天Y迷宫测试时,低氧6h组的错误反应次数最高;NeuN免疫染色显示低氧后复氧3d的各组小鼠海马各亚区神经元均有明显脱失,以低氧6h组最为明显。②第10和30天Y迷宫测试显示,低氧小鼠经CEPO或EPO干预后Y迷宫的错误反应次数明显低于生理盐水处理的小鼠;NeuN免疫染色显示低氧小鼠给予CEPO或EPO处理后海马神经元脱失明显少于生理盐水处理的小鼠。结论：低氧处理6h的小鼠学习和记忆能力明显降低,海马神经元损伤严重。CEPO具有与EPO相似的减轻低氧所致学习和记忆损伤、减少海马神经元脱失的作用。     

Differences in behavioural test battery performance between mice with hippocampal and cerebellar lesions

Effects of hippocampal or cerebellar lesions have been described extensively, but the ability of behavioural tests for laboratory mice to distinguish between such lesions has not been studied in detail. We compared the behavioural consequences of large bilateral hippocampal and hemispheric cerebellar lesions with eight commonly used tests that included elements of neuromotor performance, exploratory behaviour, and learning and memory ability. Dissociation between the effects of the different lesions was most obviously demonstrated by neuromotor impairment in cerebellum-lesioned mice (typically in the rotarod task) and hyperactivity in hippocampus-lesioned mice (typically in cage activity recordings). Several of the behavioural variables derived from the test battery correlated differently with the size of the hippocampal and cerebellar lesions. In contrast, no absolute dissociation between the effects of these lesions was found in the Morris maze, a reportedly hippocampus-dependent learning and memory task. The contextual fear conditioning task, on the other hand, did reveal a selective decrease of context-dependent freezing in hippocampus-lesioned mice, whereas cerebellum-lesioned animals displayed an increase in freezing responses. By and large, the present battery of tests does allow differentiation between the effects of cerebellar and hippocampal lesions in laboratory mice.     

Voluntary exercise-induced neurogenesis in the postischemic dentate gyrus is associated with spatial memory recovery from stroke

Spatial cognitive impairment is common after stroke insults. Voluntary exercise could improve the impaired spatial memory. Newly generated neurons in the dentate gyrus are necessary for the acquisition of new hippocampus-dependent memories. However, it is not well known whether voluntary exercise after stroke promotes neurogenesis in the adult dentate gyrus, thereby promoting spatial memory recovery. Here, we examined in mice subjected to focal cerebral ischemia the effect of voluntary or forced exercise on neurogenesis in the ischemic dentate gyrus and spatial memory. Exposure to voluntary wheel running after stroke enhanced newborn cell survival and up-regulated the phosphorylation of cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) in the dentate gyrus and reversed ischemia-induced spatial memory impairment. However, the enhanced newborn cell survival and CREB phosphorylation in the dentate gyrus and improved spatial memory were not observed in the mice exposed to forced swimming. Moreover, there was a significant correlation between the total number of surviving newborn cells in the dentate gyrus and the ability of mice to locate the platform in the Morris water maze. These results suggest that, in the adult mice, exposure to voluntary exercise after ischemic stroke may promote newborn cells survival in the dentate gyrus by up-regulating CREB phosphorylation and consequently restore impaired hippocampus-dependent memory.     

Differential effects of adolescent and adult‐initiated exercise on cognition and hippocampal neurogenesis

Adolescence is a critical period for postnatal brain maturation and thus a time when environmental influences may affect cognitive processes in later life. Exercise during adulthood has been shown to increase hippocampal neurogenesis and enhance cognition. However, the impact of exercise initiated in adolescence on the brain and behavior in adulthood is not fully understood. The aim of this study was to compare the impact of voluntary exercise that is initiated during adolescence or early adulthood on cognitive performance in hippocampal‐dependent and ‐independent processes using both object‐based and touchscreen operant paradigms. Adult (8 week) and adolescent (4 week) male Sprague–Dawley rats had access to a running wheel (exercise) or were left undisturbed (sedentary control) for 4 weeks prior to behavioral testing and for the duration of the experiment. Results from touchscreen‐based tasks showed that reversal learning was enhanced by both adult and adolescent‐initiated exercise, while only exercise that began in adolescence induced a subtle but transient increase in performance on a location discrimination task. Spontaneous alternation in the Y‐maze was impaired following adolescent onset exercise, while object memory was unaffected by either adult or adolescent‐initiated exercise. Adolescent‐initiated exercise increased the number of hippocampal DCX cells, an indicator of neurogenesis. It also promoted the complexity of neurites on DCX cells, a key process for synaptic integration, to a greater degree than adult‐initiated exercise. Together the data here show that exercise during the adolescent period compared to adulthood differentially affects cognitive processes and the development of new hippocampal neurons in later life.     

Enhanced neurogenesis during trimethyltin-induced neurodegeneration in the hippocampus of the adult rat

The occurrence of neurogenesis in the hippocampus of the adult rat during trimethyltin (TMT)-induced neurodegeneration was investigated using bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU). Fifteen days after TMT intoxication, BrdU-labeled cells were significantly more numerous in the hippocampus of treated animals, gradually decreasing towards the control value 21 days after intoxication in the dentate gyrus (DG), while in the CA3/hilus region BrdU-labeled cells were still more numerous in TMT-treated rats. In order to investigate the fate of newly-generated cells double labeling experiments using neuronal or glial markers were performed. Colocalization of the neuronal marker NeuN was detected in many BrdU-positive cells in the DG, while in the CA3/hilus region no colocalization of NeuN and BrdU could be observed. No colocalization of BrdU and the astroglial marker GFAP or the microglial marker OX-42 was detected either in the DG and or in the CA3/hilus region. The results indicate an enhancement of endogenous neurogenesis in the hippocampus during TMT-induced neurodegeneration, with the development of a subpopulation of regenerated cells into neurons in the DG, while in the CA3/hilus region the population of newly-generated cells should be regarded as undifferentiated.     

D-galactose injured neurogenesis in the hippocampus of adult mice

OBJECTIVES: We studied the effects of the reactive oxygen species (ROS) on neural progenitor cell proliferation and survival in the dentate gyrus (DG). METHODS: The adult mice were treated with D-galactose for 7 weeks to mimic natural aging in mice. The level of malondialdehyde (MDA) and the activities of antioxidant enzymes in the serum were detected. Neurodegeneration and neurogenesis in the hippocampus were explored using terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated UTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) to detect the dying cells and bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) was used to label the newly born cells. RESULTS: After the treatment of D-galactose, the level of MDA increased and the activities of the antioxidant enzyme decreased in the serum. TUNEL-positive cells significantly increased in the DG, CA1 and CA3 subfields. The BrdU-labeled proliferating cells and surviving cells in the DG decreased significantly in number after D-galactose treatment. DISCUSSION: D-Galactose induced the impairment of neurogenesis in the DG, which is similar to natural aging in mice. ROS accumulation as a result of D-galactose may be related to the decrease of neurogenesis in the DG.     

The effects of running and of inhibiting adult neurogenesis on learning and memory in rats

The presence of ongoing adult neurogenesis within the highly plastic hippocampal circuitry poses questions as to the relevance of new neurons to learning and memory. Correlational and causal evidence suggests that some, but not all, hippocampal tasks involve the new neurons. The evidence with regard to spatial learning in the water maze, one of the most commonly used hippocampal tasks, is contradictory. In this study we examined the effects of irradiation-induced reduction in neurogenesis on spatial learning and another standard hippocampal task, contextual fear conditioning, in rats that experienced normal cage conditions or voluntary running. The results indicate that reduced neurogenesis had little effect on spatial learning but severely impaired contextual fear conditioning. It was suggested that compensatory mechanisms within the hippocampus may have contributed selectively to sparing of spatial function. Performance on the fear conditioning task was weakly related to enhanced neurogenesis or running. The results improve our understanding of the functional role of adult neurogenesis in behaving animals.     

普伐他汀对脑缺血大鼠的神经保护及神经发生的作用

目的研究中枢神经系统缺血损伤后,普伐他汀的神经保护和促进神经发生作用。方法采用线栓法造成大鼠大脑中动脉的暂时性缺血,在以下时间点给予普伐他汀：伤后6h,伤后每天直至伤后14天。用神经学评分、平衡实验和旋转实验评价伤后神经学恢复情况。检测血清胆固醇和甘油三酯的含量,计算脑梗塞面积。通过三染色法（BrdU, DCX, NeuN染色）研究普伐他汀对神经发生的作用。结果各组间血清胆固醇和甘油三酯无显著性差异;与对照组相比,实验组动物术后旋转实验评分显著性增加,梗塞面积减小;普伐他汀显著增加了齿状回和脑室下区的BrdU阳性细胞数,并增加了齿状回、脑室下区和纹状体中的BrdU/DCX阳性细胞数。结论中枢神经系统损伤早期重复使用低剂量的普伐他汀是相对安全的,并能够显著改善伤后的神经功能恢复,减少梗死面积。普伐他汀能够诱导大鼠齿状回及脑室下区的神经发生并增加纹状体中迁移神经元的数量,这与普伐他汀的降脂作用无关。     

普伐他汀对脑缺血大鼠的神经保护及神经发生的作用(英文)

目的研究中枢神经系统缺血损伤后,普伐他汀的神经保护和促进神经发生作用。方法采用线栓法造成大鼠大脑中动脉的暂时性缺血,在以下时间点给予普伐他汀:伤后6 h,伤后每天直至伤后14 天。用神经学评分、平衡实验和旋转实验评价伤后神经学恢复情况。检测血清胆固醇和甘油三酯的含量,计算脑梗塞面积。通过三染色法(BrdU, DCX, NeuN染色)研究普伐他汀对神经发生的作用。结果各组间血清胆固醇和甘油三酯无显著性差异;与对照组相比,实验组动物术后旋转实验评分显著性增加,梗塞面积减小;普伐他汀显著增加了齿状回和脑室下区的BrdU阳性细胞数,并增加了齿状回、脑室下区和纹状体中的BrdU/DCX阳性细胞数。结论中枢神经系统损伤早期重复使用低剂量的普伐他汀是相对安全的,并能够显著改善伤后的神经功能恢复,减少梗死面积。普伐他汀能够诱导大鼠齿状回及脑室下区的神经发生并增加纹状体中迁移神经元的数量,这与普伐他汀的降脂作用无关。     

Modification of hippocampal neurogenesis and neuroplasticity by social environments

Synaptic plasticity and neurogenesis in the brain are affected by environmental stimuli. The present study was designed to investigate the effects of social environments on learning and memory, neurogenesis, and neuroplasticity. Twenty-two-day-old rats were housed in isolation or in groups for 4 or 8 weeks and injected intraperitoneally with bromodeoxyuridine to detect proliferation among progenitor cells. The animals were also tested for learning in a water maze and for hippocampal CA1 long-term potentiation in vivo and in vitro. The results show that the number of newborn neurons in the dentate gyrus and the learning in a water maze decreased significantly in rats reared in isolation for 4 or 8 weeks, as compared with grouped controls. Induction of long-term potentiation in the CA1 area of rat hippocampus in vivo and in vitro was also significantly reduced by isolation. Furthermore, the effects of isolation rearing on spatial learning, hippocampal neurogenesis, and long-term potentiation could be reversed by subsequent group rearing. These findings demonstrated that social environments can modify neurogenesis and synaptic plasticity in adult hippocampal regions, which is associated with alterations in spatial learning and memory.     

Changes in the proliferative activity of hippocampal neural stem cells from manganismus mice

BACKGROUND: Manganese neurotoxicity presents in the form of not only extracorticospinal tract injury of central nervous system (CNS), but also learning and memory ability damage. So, the mechanism of manganese neurotoxicity will be further studied from the angle of hippocampus. OBJECTIVE: To observe the effects of manganism on learning and memory ability and the proliferation of neural stem cells (NSCs) in hippocampus of mouse brains, and analyze whether this effect has dose-dependence. DESIGN: Randomized controlled experiment. SETTING: Department of Human Anatomy, and Department of Industrial Hygiene and Occupational Diseases, Guangxi Medical University. MATERIALS: Twenty-eight male Kunming mice, aged 2 weeks, were involved in this experiment. The involved mice were randomized into 4 groups, with 7 in each: control group, low-dose manganism group, middle-dose manganism group and high-dose manganism group. Manganese chloride was purchased from Shantou Chemicals Factory. METHODS: This experiment was carried out in the Experimental Center for Preclinical Medicine, Guangxi Medical University from November 2005 to August 2006. Mice in the low-, middle- and high-dose manganism groups were intraperitoneally injected with 5, 20 and 50 mg/kg per day manganese chloride, once a day, for 2 weeks successively. Mice in the control group were injected with the same amount of stroke-physiological saline solution. Neurobehavioral detection of all the animals was performed in Morris water maze constantly from the 7th day after the first injection of manganese chloride solution. Learning ability was detected in the place navigation test. Mice were trained for 5 consecutive days with four trials per day. The time to find the platform was latency. Memory ability was detected in spatial probe test. Platform was withdrawn on the following day of place navigation. The mice were placed in the water from a random start in the edge of the pool. The number of times they traversed the plateform's region was recorded as the performance of spatial memory. At the final two days of the water maze tests, all the animals were daily intraperitoneally injected with 50 mg/kg BrdU three times successively, once every 4 hours. At 24 hours after the final BrdU injection, all the animals were sacrificed and perfused, and their brains were harvested, fixed and successively sliced at coronary plane on a freezing microtome. Distribution and number of BrdU-positive cells in the subgranular zone of hippocampus of brains of experimental animas were detected respectively by immunohistochemistry for reflecting the proliferation of NSCs. Single-factor analysis of variance was used for comparing the difference of measurement data. Linear correlation analysis was used among the performance record in Morris water maze test, the number of BrdU-immunopositive cells and the dose of manganism. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Learning and memory ability and the number of hippocampal NSCs of mice in each group. RESULTS: ①Performance of mice in Morris water maze: In the place navigation test, there was a significant retarded learning in mice of high-dose manganism group from the 3rd day as compared with control group (P < 0.01). Till the 5th day, escape latency of mice in each manganism group was prolonged, and learning performance was significantly decreased (P < 0.05), while swimming speed did not affect above results. In the spatial probe test, the average frequency of middle- and high-dose manganism groups was 1.17±1.60 and 0.80±1.10, respectively, and decreased remarkably than that of control group which was 4.86±1.35 (P < 0.01), indicating memory ability was decreased; while the average frequency of low-dose manganism group did not differ obviously from that of control group (P =0.066) although it was 2.67±3.27. The difference of swimming speed in each group was still of no statistic significance (P > 0.05). ②Effect of manganism on the number of NSCs: After counting, the average number of BrdU- immunopositive cells of one side in the control group, low-, middle- and high-dose manganism groups was 69.20±4.48, 36.63±4.50, 31.00±6.87, 26.76±4.83, individually (P < 0.01). ③Results of linear correlation analysis: The ability of spatial memory was significantly in positive correlation with the number of BrdU-labeled cells ( r =0.734, P < 0.01), and in negative correlation with the intensity of manganese poisoning (r =–0.598,P < 0.01).Meanwhile, there was a significant negative correlation between the number of BrdU-labeled cells and the intensity of manganese poisoning(r =–0.666, P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Manganese exposure in mice can affect the ability of learning and memory, which is probably caused by the inhibition of manganese to the neurogenesis of NSCs in hippocampus in dose-dependent manner.     

Anatomical gradients of adult neurogenesis and activity: Young neurons in the ventral dentate gyrus are activated by water maze training

Hippocampal function varies in a subregion‐specific fashion: spatial processing is thought to rely on the dorsal hippocampus, whereas anxiety‐related behavior relies more on the ventral hippocampus. During development, neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus (DG) proceeds along ventral to dorsal as well as suprapyramidal to infrapyramidal gradients, but it is unclear whether regional differences in neurogenesis are maintained in adulthood. Moreover, it is unknown whether young neurons in the adult exhibit subregion‐specific patterns of activation. We therefore examined the magnitude of neurogenesis and the activation of young and mature granule cells in DG subregions in adult rats that learned a spatial water maze task, swam with no platform, or were left untouched. We found that both adult neurogenesis and granule cell activation, as defined by c‐fos expression in the granule cell population as a whole, were higher in the dorsal than the ventral DG. In contrast, c‐fos expression in adult‐born granule cells, identified by PSA‐NCAM or location in the subgranular zone, occurred at a higher rate in the opposite subregion, the ventral DG. Interestingly, c‐fos expression in the entire granule cell population was equivalent in water maze‐trained rats and swim control rats, but was increased in the young granule cells only in the learning condition. These results provide new evidence that hippocampally‐relevant experience activates young and mature neurons in different DG subregions and with different experiential specificity, and suggest that adult‐born neurons may play a specific role in anxiety‐related behavior or other nonspatial aspects of hippocampal function. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Methylazoxymethanol acetate does not fully block cell genesis in the young and aged dentate gyrus

During adulthood, new neurons are continuously added to the mammalian dentate gyrus (DG). An increasing number of studies have correlated changes in rates of dentate neurogenesis with memory abilities. One study based on subchronic treatment with the toxin methylazoxymethanol acetate (MAM) has provided causal evidence that neurogenesis is involved in hippocampal-dependent trace conditioning. In contrast, spatial learning is not impaired following MAM treatment. We hypothesized that this was due to the small residual number of new cells produced following MAM treatment. In the present experiment, we attempted to achieve a higher level of reduction of adult-generated cells following MAM treatment in young and aged rats. We found only a partial reduction of adult-generated cells in the DG. More importantly, independently of the age of the animals, MAM treatment at a dose necessary to reduce neurogenesis altered the overall health of the animals. In conclusion, the behavioural results obtained following subchronic treatment with high doses of MAM in adulthood must be interpreted with extreme caution.     

D-Galactose injured neurogenesis in the hippocampus of adult mice

Abstract

Objectives: We studied the effects of the reactive oxygen species (ROS) on neural progenitor cell proliferation and survival in the dentate gyrus (DG).

Methods: The adult mice were treated with D-galactose for 7 weeks to mimic natural aging in mice. The level of malondialdehyde (MDA) and the activities of antioxidant enzymes in the serum were detected. Neurodegeneration and neurogenesis in the hippocampus were explored using terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase-mediated UTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) to detect the dying cells and bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) was used to label the newly born cells.

Results: After the treatment of D-galactose, the level of MDA increased and the activities of the antioxidant enzyme decreased in the serum. TUNEL-positive cells significantly increased in the DG, CA1 and CA3 subfields. The BrdU-labeled proliferating cells and surviving cells in the DG decreased significantly in number after D-galactose treatment.

Discussion: D-Galactose induced the impairment of neurogenesis in the DG, which is similar to natural aging in mice. ROS accumulation as a result of D-galactose may be related to the decrease of neurogenesis in the DG.