Andreas Arvidsson

Neural stem cells in the subventricular zone of adult rodents produce new striatal neurons that may replace those that have died after stroke; however, the neurogenic response has been considered acute and transient, yielding only small numbers of neurons. In contrast, we show herein that striatal neuroblasts are generated without decline at least for 4 months after stroke in adult rats. Neuroblasts formed early or late after stroke either differentiate into mature neurons, which survive for several months, or die through caspase-mediated apoptosis. The directed migration of the new neurons toward the ischemic damage is regulated by stromal cell-derived factor-1alpha and its receptor CXCR4. These results show that endogenous neural stem cells continuously supply the injured adult brain with new neurons, which suggests novel self-repair strategies to improve recovery after stroke.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Stroke induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) causes long-term formation of new striatal neurons from stem/progenitor cells in the subventricular zone (SVZ). We explored whether MCAO leads to hypoxia, changes in vessel density, and angiogenesis in the ipsilateral SVZ and adjacent striatum, and determined the relation between the migrating neuroblasts and the vasculature. METHODS: Adult rats were subjected to 2 hours of MCAO. Hypoxia was studied by injecting Hypoxyprobe-1 during MCAO or 6 weeks later. Vessel density and length was estimated using stereology. New cells were labeled with 5'-bromo-2'deoxyuridine (BrdU) during weeks 1 and 2 or 7 and 8 after MCAO, and angiogenesis was assessed immunohistochemically with antibodies against BrdU and endothelial cell markers. Distance from neuroblasts to nearest vessel was measured using confocal microscopy. RESULTS: The ischemic insult caused transient hypoxia and early, low-grade angiogenesis, but no damage or increase of vascular density in the SVZ. Angiogenesis was detected during the first 2 weeks in the dorsomedial striatum adjacent to the SVZ, which also showed long-lasting increase of vascularization. At 2, 6, and 16 weeks after MCAO, the majority of neuroblasts migrated through this area toward the damage, closely associated with blood vessels. CONCLUSIONS: The vasculature plays an important role for long-term striatal neurogenesis after stroke. During several months, neuroblasts migrate close to blood vessels through an area exhibiting early vascular remodeling and persistently increased vessel density. Optimizing vascularization should be an important strategy to promote neurogenesis and repair after stroke.

Neurogenesis in the adult rat dentate gyrus was studied following focal ischemic insults produced by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Animals were subjected to either 30 min of MCAO, which causes damage confined to the striatum, or 2 h of MCAO, which leads to both striatal and cortical infarction. When compared to sham-operated rats, MCAO-rats showed a marked increase of the number of cells double-labelled for 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine-5'-monophosphate (BrdU; injected during 4-6 days postischemia) and neuronal-specific antigen (NeuN; a marker of postmitotic neurons) in the ipsilateral dentate granule cell layer and subgranular zone at 5 weeks following the 2 h insult. Only a modest and variable increase of BrdU-labelled cells was found after 30 min of MCAO. The enhanced neurogenesis was not dependent on cell death in the hippocampus, and its magnitude was not correlated to the degree of cortical damage. Systemic administration of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor blocker dizocilpine maleate (MK-801) completely suppressed the elevated neurogenesis following 2 h of MCAO. Our findings indicate that stroke leads to increased neurogenesis in the adult rat dentate gyrus through glutamatergic mechanisms acting on NMDA receptors. This modulatory effect may be mediated through changes in the levels of several growth factors, which occur after stroke, and could influence various regulatory steps of neurogenesis.