Study suggests nestin+ cholinergic neurons may have closer connection to olfactory bulb neurons

Dr. Yuhong Zhao and co-workers from Sun Yat-sen University in China 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. These researchers 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. Their 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 relevant study has been published in the Neural Regeneration Research (Vol. 9, No. 3, 2014).