Investigating the role of cell-autonomous ROS status in the regulation of hippocampal neural precursor cells in adult mice

Adult hippocampal neurogenesis entails a continued recruitment of neural precursor cells (NPCs) into active cell cycle and their progressive transition into post-mitotic granule cells. These adult born neurons integrate into the existing circuitry and confer structural plasticity, which aids in key hippocampal functions. For sustained neurogenesis, the cell cycle entry of the NPCs has to be tightly controlled. Environmental cues strongly, and differentially, regulate this checkpoint. Voluntary physical activity represents such an established strong stimulus that results in enhanced proliferation within the neurogenic niche. However, mechanistic insights into the maintenance and regulation of quiescence and the responsiveness of the NPCs to acute physical activity, as a form of adaptive neurogenesis, are yet to be elucidated. In my doctoral studies, we identified redox regulation as a key pathway regulating the cellular state equilibrium. I further explored the role of cellular oxidative stress in the neurogenic course and in adaptive neurogenic responses. Our results show that non-proliferative precursors within the hippocampal dentate gyrus, unlike in other stem cell systems, are marked by high levels of cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). Using cytometric methodologies, ex vivo bioassays and transcriptional profiling, we revealed that classifying cells based on intracellular ROS content identified functionally defined sub-populations of adult NPCs. We propose that a drop in intracellular ROS content precedes the transition of cellular states, specifically from quiescence to active proliferation. Acute physical activity involves the activation of non- proliferating cells through a transient Nox2-dependent ROS surge in high-ROS, quiescent NPCs. In the absence of Nox2, baseline neurogenesis was unaffected, but the activity- dependent response was abolished. These findings shed new light on the discrete cellular events, which maintain the homeostasis between distinct cellular states of NPCs within the adult murine hippocampus.:Zusammenfassung 3 Summary 4 Acknowledgements 5 Index 8 List of figures 10 List of tables 11 Abbreviations 12 Publications 14 Introduction 15 Adult hippocampal neurogenesis 16 Adult subventricular neurogenesis 21 Methods to study adult neurogenesis 23 Environmental regulation of neurogenesis 26 Redox regulation in a stem cell 29 Working hypothesis 31 Specific aims 31 Materials and methods 32 Mice 34 Physical activity paradigm 35 Thymidine labelling and tissue preparation 35 Fluorescence immunohistochemistry 35 DG and SVZ dissection and dissociation 36 Flow cytometry 36 Gating for ROS classes 36 Neurosphere culture 37 Generation of monolayer culture 37 Inducing quiescence through BMP4 treatment 38 Next Generation sequencing (NGS) 38 RNA extraction 38 Quality control and differential expression 39 Functional enrichment and expression profiles 41 RNA isolation and quantitative RTPCR (qRT-PCR) 43 Ki67 immunochemistry and quantification of in vivo proliferation 45 Quantification and statistical analysis 46 Data and software availability 48 Results 49 Intracellular ROS content functionally delineates subpopulations of neural precursor cells 49 Resolution of ROS profiles of DG and SVZ and neurosphere bioassay 49 Distribution of Nes-GFP cells into different ROS classes 54 Neural precursors of the different ROS classes have distinct molecular profiles 55 Changes in intracellular ROS content precede cell fate changes 65 ROS profiling of other cell types within the DG 70 ROS profiling of Astrocytes and type-1 cells 70 ROS profiling of Doublecortin (Dcx)positive cells of the neurogenic lineage 74 ROS profiling of microglial cells within the DG 77 Resolving the response of Nes-GFP subpopulations to environmental stimulus 78 Nes-GFP+ cells of the hiROS class specifically respond to physical activity 81 Changes in ROS content are not driven by mitochondrial activity 83 In vitro monolayer culture of NPCs as an independent corroboration 86 Discussion 89 The organization of an active stem cell niche with respect to redox content 89 Cytometric classification of cells within the DG 91 Establishing the cellular states of redox defined subsets of Nes-GFP+ adult precursors within the DG 95 Timeline of baseline proliferation within precursors and identifying the subset of precursors responsive to de novo physical activity 97 Monolayer culture to study cellular states and redox regulation 100 Nox2 dependency as a discriminatory feature of adaptive neurogenesis 101 Conclusion 103 References 104 Declarations 122 Anlage 1 122 Anlage 2 12