The orphan nuclear receptor TLX promotes neural stem cell self-renewal, but its role in hippocampal neurogenesis is not known. Murai et al. generated transgenic (Tg) mice in which TLX expression was placed under the control of the promoter for nestin, a marker of neural precursors. Adult Tg mice exhibited increased numbers of proliferating neural progenitors and 5-bromodeoxyuridine-labelled newborn neurons in the dentate gyrus compared with wild-type mice, and performed better in the Morris water maze, a test of spatial learning and memory. Thus, TLX expression in neural progenitors cells is important for adult hippocampal neurogenesis and memory.
References
Murai, K. et al. Nuclear receptor TLX stimulates hippocampal neurogenesis and enhances learning and memory in a transgenic mouse model. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 111, 9115–9120 (2014)
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Bray, N. Adult neurogenesis gets a boost. Nat Rev Neurosci 15, 495 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3791
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3791