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Alterations in forebrain acetylcholine influence hippocampal neurogenesis in the adult rodent

Mohapel P, Leanza G, Lindvall O (2002) Alterations in forebrain acetylcholine influence hippocampal neurogenesis in the adult rodent. Neuroscience 2002 Abstracts 23.9. Society for Neuroscience, Orlando, FL.

Summary: Little is known about how various experiential, environmental and pathological factors regulate neurogenesis in the adult hippocampus. Since the hippocampus receives abundant cholinergic innervation and contains some of the densest distributions of acetylcholine (ACh) fibers, we investigated its potential role in adult neurogenesis. Adult rats received multiple bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) injections 3 weeks following lesions of the adult rodent forebrain cholinergic projections by intracerebroventricular infusions of 192 IgG-saporin. The day following BrdU administration we observed a significant 20% to 30 % decrease in proliferation in the subgranular cell layer of the dentate gyrus with ACh lesioning. This decrease persisted through to 4 weeks after BrdU administration, when most proliferated cells co-expressed neuronal markers. Conversely, in a separate experiment, naive rats receiving simultaneous injections of the ACh agonist physostigmine and BrdU demonstrated a 30 % increase in proliferated cells (1 day later) and neurons (4 weeks later) in the subgranular cell layer. Our data indicate that cholinergic mechanisms in the forebrain are involved in the regulation of neurogenesis and that this effect may be indirect or direct in the hippocampus.

Related Products: 192-IgG-SAP (Cat. #IT-01)

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