title: Adult neurogenesis is functionally associated with AD-like neurodegeneration.
abstract: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is predominantly characterized by progressive neuronal loss in the brain. It has been recently found that adult neurogenesis in the hippocampal dentate gyrus of AD patients is significantly enhanced, while its functional significance is still unknown. By using an AD-like neurodegeneration mouse model, we show here that neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus was neurodegenerative stage-dependent. At early stages of neurodegeneration, neurogenesis was significantly enhanced and newly generated neurons migrated into the local neuronal network. Up to late stages of neurodegeneration, however, the survival of newly generated neurons was impaired so that the enhanced neurogenesis could not be detected anymore. Most interestingly, these dynamic changes in neurogenesis were correlated with the severity of neuronal loss in the dentate gyrus, indicating that neurogenesis may work as a self-repairing mechanism to compensate for neurodegeneration. Therefore, to enhance endogenous neurogenesis at early stages of neurodegeneration may be a valuable strategy to delay neurodegenerative progress.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Chicago, USA.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.forename: Se Hoon
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Xiaoli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.forename: Sangram S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Sisodia
authors.forename: Ya-Ping
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology*; D000818:Animals; D001973:Bromodeoxyuridine / Q000378:metabolism; D002452:Cell Count; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D018891:Dentate Gyrus / Q000473:pathology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D018450:Disease Progression; D051379:Mice; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D009410:Nerve Degeneration / Q000473:pathology*; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D053764:Presenilin-1 / Q000172:deficiency; D053766:Presenilin-2 / Q000172:deficiency
chemical_list: D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D053764:Presenilin-1; D053766:Presenilin-2; D001973:Bromodeoxyuridine