Beta-catenin signaling promotes proliferation of progenitor cells in the adult mouse subventricular zone

Document Type

Article

Abstract

The subventricular zone (SVZ) is the largest germinal zone in the mature rodent brain, and it continuously produces young neurons that migrate to the olfactory bulb. Neural stem cells in this region generate migratory neuroblasts via highly proliferative transit-amplifying cells. The Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway partially regulates the proliferation and neuronal differentiation of neural progenitor cells in the embryonic brain. Here, we studied the role of beta-catenin signaling in the adult mouse SVZ. beta-Catenin-dependent expression of a destabilized form of green fluorescent protein was detected in progenitor cells in the adult SVZ of Axin2-d2EGFP reporter mice. Retrovirus-mediated expression of a stabilized beta-catenin promoted the proliferation of Mash1+ cells and inhibited their differentiation into neuroblasts. Conversely, the expression of Dkk1, an inhibitor of Wnt signaling, reduced the proliferation of Mash1+ cells. In addition, an inhibitor of GSK3 beta promoted the proliferation of Mash1+ cells and increased the number of new neurons in the olfactory bulb 14 days later. These results suggest that beta-catenin signaling plays a role in the proliferation of progenitor cells in the SVZ of the adult mouse brain.

Medical Subject Headings

Aging (physiology); Animals; Cell Differentiation (physiology); Cell Proliferation; Lateral Ventricles (cytology, metabolism, physiology); Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mice, Transgenic; Signal Transduction (physiology); Stem Cells (cytology, physiology); beta Catenin (physiology)

Publication Date

11-1-2007

Publication Title

Stem cells (Dayton, Ohio)

E-ISSN

1549-4918

Volume

25

Issue

11

First Page

2827

Last Page

36

PubMed ID

17673525

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1634/stemcells.2007-0177

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