Evidence for a distinct group of nestin-immunoreactive neurons within the basal forebrain of adult rats.
Nestin is an intermediate filament protein serving as a marker for neuroprogenitor and stem cells. Here we report that a cluster of previously unrecognized nestin immunoreactive (nestin-ir) neurons was located in the medial septum-diagonal band of Broca (MS-DBB) of the basal forebrain in adult rats. Nestin-ir neurons were exclusively located in the MS-DBB and intermingled with choline acetyltransferase-ir (ChAT-ir), parvalbumin-ir (PV-ir), or nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH)-diaphorase reactive (NADPHd-reactive) neurons. However, there was no colocalization between nestin-ir and PV-ir in single neurons in MS-DBB; only about 35% of nestin-ir neurons were ChAT-ir, and 8%-12% of nestin-ir neurons were NADPHd-reactive. Morphologically, nestin-ir neurons showed a larger size of somata than that of ChAT-ir or PV-ir neurons and the distribution of nestin-ir neurons spread across the rostro-caudal extent of the MS-DBB. Moreover, retrograde tracing revealed that a significant portion of these nestin-ir neurons projected to the thalamus and hippocampus. These results, for the first time, provide strong evidence that there exists a cluster of previously unrecognized nestin-ir neurons in MS-DBB of the basal forebrain in adult rats and that these nestin-ir neurons are distinguishable from ChAT-ir, PV-ir, and NADPHd-reactive neurons.
Wang
S
S
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Zhongshan Medical College, Sun Yat-Sen University, 74 Zhongshan 2nd Road, Guangzhou, 510080 PR China.
Yao
Z
Z
Wang
J
J
Ai
Y
Y
Li
D
D
Zhang
Y
Y
Mao
J
J
Gu
H
H
Ruan
Y
Y
Mao
J
J
D000109:Acetylcholine / Q000378:metabolism; D000578:Amidines; D000818:Animals; D048429:Cell Size; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase / Q000378:metabolism; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007381:Intermediate Filament Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D009252:NADPH Dehydrogenase / Q000378:metabolism; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D064231:Nestin; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D010320:Parvalbumins / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012686:Septal Nuclei / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*
D000578:Amidines; D007381:Intermediate Filament Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; C577486:Nes protein, rat; D064231:Nestin; D010320:Parvalbumins; C031455:diamidino compound 253-50; D009252:NADPH Dehydrogenase; D002795:Choline O-Acetyltransferase; D000109:Acetylcholine