FORNEUROCELL II

BAVARIAN RESEARCH ASSOCIATION FOR ADULT NEURONAL STEM CELLS

Long-term in vivo imaging of the integration, the maturation and the survival of adult-born neurons in the olfactory bulb of transgenic animal models of Alzheimer’s disease

Field of work:

The olfactory bulb, showing characteristic pathological changes early in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) on the one hand and a strong capacity of adult neurogenesis on the other hand is the ideal brain region for analyzing the potential benefit of approaches aiming to rescue neuronal cell loss via adult neurogenesis. Due to the superficial location of the olfactory bulb in the rodent brain there is the unique opportunity to study the integration of newborn neurons into pathologically affected brain circuits throughout disease progression in the live animal. By the use of the cranial window technique and two-photon (2P) imaging we aim to investigate the integration, maturation, and survival of adult-born interneurons within the olfactory bulb in transgenic animal models of AD with well-defined tau-pathology. For the identification of new-born neurons in the olfactory bulb, migrating progenitor cells will be fluorescently labelled on their migration path via viral transduction. Overall, we seek to establish an in vivo assay that allows the testing of compounds aimed at promoting the maturation of adult-born neurons in altered neuronal networks. Such an assay may not only be relevant for neurodegenerative diseases with early olfactory dysfunction including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease but may also be relevant for in regard to other brain diseases of different origin where the integration of adult-born neurons in altered neuronal networks is a potential therapeutical target.