Abstract:

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+ neurons 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 septum-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.

Key words: nerve regeneration, nestin, choline acetyl transferase, neurotransmitter, medial septum-diagonal band of Broca, olfactory bulb, olfactory nerve transection, the Guangdong Natural Science Foundation of China, neural regeneration