title: Bcl-2 enhances the formation of newborn striatal long-projection neurons in adult rat brain after a transient ischemic stroke.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  It has been reported that B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) enhances neurogenesis as well as supporting axonal growth after injury. In the present study, we investigated whether Bcl-2 overexpression plays a role in the formation of newborn striatonigral projection neurons in the adult rat brain after transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO).
  
  
  METHODS
  We infused human Bcl-2-expressing plasmid (pBcl-2) into the lateral ventricle immediately after 30 min of MCAO, injected 5'-bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) intraperitoneally to label proliferative cells, and microinjected fluorogold (FG) into the substantia nigra at 11 weeks of reperfusion followed by multiple immunostaining of striatonigral projection neurons at 12 weeks.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found that pBcl-2 treatment significantly increased the number of newborn neurons (BrdU(+)-NeuN(+)) in the striatum ipsilateral to the MCAO. We further detected newborn striatonigral projection neurons (BrdU(+)-FG(+)-NeuN(+)) in the ipsilateral striatum at 12 weeks. More interestingly, the number of newborn striatonigral projection neurons (BrdU(+)-FG(+)) was significantly increased by pBcl-2 treatment compared to that by pEGFP, a control plasmid.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Taken together, we found that Bcl-2 overexpression in the brain enhanced the generation of newborn striatonigral projection neurons. This provides a potential strategy for promoting the reestablishment of neural networks and brain repair after ischemic injury.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurobiology and Institute of Stem Cell Research, Institutes for Biomedical Science, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Jun
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Jun-Jie
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Feng-Yan
authors.initials: FY
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D034961:Antigens, Nuclear / Q000378:metabolism; D000963:Antimetabolites; D015153:Blotting, Western; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D001973:Bromodeoxyuridine; D003342:Corpus Striatum / Q000166:cytology*; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D019254:Genes, bcl-2 / Q000235:genetics*; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D007395:Interneurons / Q000502:physiology*; D002546:Ischemic Attack, Transient / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D055495:Neurogenesis / Q000235:genetics; D010957:Plasmids; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013378:Substantia Nigra / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D034961:Antigens, Nuclear; D000963:Antimetabolites; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; C546339:Rbfox3 protein, rat; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D001973:Bromodeoxyuridine