RESUMO
During aging, the brain undergoes changes that impair cognitive capacity and circuit plasticity, including a marked decrease in production of adult-born hippocampal neurons. It is unclear whether development and integration of those new neurons are also affected by age. Here, we show that adult-born granule cells (GCs) in aging mice are scarce and exhibit slow development, but they display a remarkable potential for structural plasticity. Retrovirally labeled 3-week-old GCs in middle-aged mice were small, underdeveloped, and disconnected. Neuronal development and integration were accelerated by voluntary exercise or environmental enrichment. Similar effects were observed via knockdown of Lrig1, an endogenous negative modulator of neurotrophin receptors. Consistently, blocking neurotrophin signaling by Lrig1 overexpression abolished the positive effects of exercise. These results demonstrate an unparalleled degree of plasticity in the aging brain mediated by neurotrophins, whereby new GCs remain immature until becoming rapidly recruited to the network by activity.
Assuntos
Envelhecimento , Hipocampo/metabolismo , Plasticidade Neuronal/fisiologia , Animais , Calbindinas/metabolismo , Proteínas de Ligação a DNA , Dendritos/fisiologia , Giro Denteado/metabolismo , Feminino , Técnicas In Vitro , Glicoproteínas de Membrana/antagonistas & inibidores , Glicoproteínas de Membrana/genética , Glicoproteínas de Membrana/metabolismo , Camundongos , Camundongos Endogâmicos C57BL , Camundongos Transgênicos , Microscopia Confocal , Fatores de Crescimento Neural/metabolismo , Proteínas do Tecido Nervoso/antagonistas & inibidores , Proteínas do Tecido Nervoso/genética , Proteínas do Tecido Nervoso/metabolismo , Neurônios/fisiologia , Proteínas Nucleares/metabolismo , Técnicas de Patch-Clamp , Condicionamento Físico Animal , Interferência de RNA , RNA Interferente Pequeno/metabolismo , Transdução de SinaisRESUMO
The Sprouty (Spry) family of proteins represents endogenous regulators of downstream signaling pathways induced by receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs). Using real time PCR, we detect a significant increase in the expression of Spry4 mRNA in response to NGF, indicating that Spry4 could modulate intracellular signaling pathways and biological processes induced by NGF and its receptor TrkA. In this work, we demonstrate that overexpression of wild-type Spry4 causes a significant reduction in MAPK and Rac1 activation and neurite outgrowth induced by NGF. At molecular level, our findings indicate that ectopic expression of a mutated form of Spry4 (Y53A), in which a conserved tyrosine residue was replaced, fail to block both TrkA-mediated Erk/MAPK activation and neurite outgrowth induced by NGF, suggesting that an intact tyrosine 53 site is required for the inhibitory effect of Spry4 on NGF signaling. Downregulation of Spry4 using small interference RNA knockdown experiments potentiates PC12 cell differentiation and MAPK activation in response to NGF. Together, these findings establish a new physiological mechanism through which Spry4 regulates neurite outgrowth reducing not only the MAPK pathway but also restricting Rac1 activation in response to NGF.