Early immature neuronal death initiates cerebral ischemia-induced neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus.

Throughout adulthood, neurons are continuously replaced by new cells in the dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus, and this neurogenesis is increased by various neuronal injuries including ischemic stroke and seizure. While several mechanisms of this injury-induced neurogenesis have been elucidated, the initiation factor remains unclear. Here, we investigated which signal(s) trigger(s) ischemia-induced cell proliferation and neurogenesis in the hippocampal DG region. We found that early apoptotic cell death of the immature neurons occurred in the DG region following transient forebrain ischemia/reperfusion in mice. Moreover, early immature neuronal death in the DG initiated transient forebrain ischemia/reperfusion-induced neurogenesis through glycogen synthase kinase-3β/β-catenin signaling, which was mediated by microglia-derived insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). Additionally, we observed that the blockade of immature neuronal cell death, early microglial activation, or IGF-1 signaling attenuated ischemia-induced neurogenesis. These results suggest that early immature neuronal cell death initiates ischemia-induced neurogenesis through microglial IGF-1 in mice.