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Aβ is not the major factor affecting neurogenesis in the adult hippocampus of hAPP mice

Edit:0916032 Date:2016-10-14

Adult hippocampal neurogenesis was impaired in several Alzheimer's disease models overexpressing mutant human amyloid precursor protein (hAPP). However, the effects of wild-type hAPP on adult neurogenesis and whether the impaired adult hippocampal neurogenesis was caused by amyloid β (Aβ) or APP remained unclear. In a recent paper published in Stem Cell Reports, Dr. Hongyu Pan and colleagues in Dr. Binggui Sun’s laboratory found that neurogenesis was impaired in the dentate gyrus (DG) of adult mice overexpressing wild-type hAPP (hAPP-I5) compared with controls. However, the adult hippocampal neurogenesis was more severely impaired in hAPP-I5 than that in hAPP-J20 mice, which express similar levels of hAPP mRNA but much higher levels of Aβ. Furthermore, reducing Aβ levels did not affect the number of doublecortin-positive cells in the DG of hAPP-J20 mice. Our results suggested that hAPP was more likely an important factor inhibiting adult neurogenesis, and Aβ was not the major factor affecting neurogenesis in the adult hippocampus of hAPP mice.

This study was supported by grants from the Major State Basic Research Program of China (2014CB964602), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (91132713), and the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation (LR13H090001).