Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience (Mar 2021)

Identification of Sox2 and NeuN Double-Positive Cells in the Mouse Hypothalamic Arcuate Nucleus and Their Reduction in Number With Aging

  • Ayumu Sugiura,
  • Tatsuhiro Shimizu,
  • Takeshi Kameyama,
  • Tomohiko Maruo,
  • Shin Kedashiro,
  • Muneaki Miyata,
  • Kiyohito Mizutani,
  • Yoshimi Takai

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2020.609911
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12

Abstract

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The hypothalamus plays a central role in homeostasis and aging. The hypothalamic arcuate nucleus (ARC) controls homeostasis of food intake and energy expenditure and retains adult neural stem cells (NSCs)/progenitor cells. Aging induces the loss of NSCs and the enhancement of inflammation, including the activation of glial cells in the ARC, but aging-associated alterations of the hypothalamic cells remain obscure. Here, we identified Sox2 and NeuN double-positive cells in a subpopulation of cells in the mouse ARC. These cells were reduced in number with aging, although NeuN-positive neuronal cells were unaltered in the total number. Diet-induced obesity mice fed with high-fat diet presented a similar hypothalamic alteration to aged mice. This study provides a new insight into aging-induced changes in the hypothalamus.

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