Special function of nestin+neurons in the medial septum-diagonal band of Broca in adult rats

摘要

Nestin+neurons have been shown to express choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) in the medial septum-diagonal band of Broca in adult rats. This study explored the projection of nestin+neu-rons to the olfactory bulb and the time course of nestin+neurons in the medial septum-diagonal band of Broca in adult rats during injury recovery after olfactory nerve transection. This study observed that all nestin+neurons were double-labeled with ChAT in the medial septum-diagonal band of Broca. Approximately 53.6%of nestin+neurons were projected to the olfactory bulb and co-labeled with fast blue. A large number of nestin+neurons were not present in each region of the medial septum-diagonal band of Broca. Nestin+neurons in the medial septum and vertical limb of the diagonal band of Broca showed obvious compensatory function. The number of nestin+neurons decreased to a minimum later than nestin-/ChAT+neurons in the medial sep-tum-diagonal band of Broca. The results suggest that nestin+cholinergic neurons may have a closer connection to olfactory bulb neurons. Nestin+cholinergic neurons may have a stronger tolerance to injury than Nestin-/ChAT+neurons. The difference between nestin+and nestin-/ChAT+neurons during the recovery process requires further investigations.