Functional role of APP in mediating adult neurogenesis

• Main Author: Joshva Sundara Raj Jasmine Celina
• Other Authors: School of Biological Sciences
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: DRNTU::Science::Biological sciences
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/44752
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) signaling pathway was shown to be negatively implicated in embryonic neurogenesis. Hence in this study, the role APP in mediating adult neurogenesis was investigated in vivo using APP wildtype (WT) and knockout (KO) adult mice at the two neurogenic micrcoenvironments- subventricualar zone (SVZ) of lateral ventricles (LV) and subgranular zone (SGZ) of dentate gyrus (DG). Neural Stem Cell (NSC) proliferation study with 5-bromo-2’-deoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation at SVZ imply that APP may positively regulate NSC proliferation. Additionally, immuonhistochemistry (IHC) results suggest that APP may also enhance the differentiation of NSCs into olfactory bulb (OB) neurons. Whereas, the findings attained for hippocampal neurogenesis imply that APP may be a negative regulator of differentiation of NSCs into neurons in hippocampus. Though the inconsistencies in the results make it somewhat difficult to draw a profound link that APP might hold with neurogenesis, they do imply to a certain extent that APP impacts neurogenesis perhaps in different ways in the two neurogenic niches. Nonetheless, these results reflect the fact that neurogenesis is constantly subjected to the control of regulatory factors and that APP may exert its regulatory role together with other factors in an orchestrated manner.