Neuronal repopulation into arcuate nucleus of hypothalamus

Recent evidences suggest that neurogenesis could occur in different zones of the central nervous system. Objective: with the purpose of analyzing neurogenesis, we have done a study in the arcuate nucleus of hypothalamus after administration of glutamate and epidermal growth factor (EGF) plus fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2). Material and Methods: we have used the electron and light microscopy, immunocytochemistry and immunoflourescence studies and the organotypic cultures. The markers used were NeuN, neurogenin, Tuj 1, CD24, lycopersicum sculetum, DARPP32, vimentin, nestin, PSA-NCAM, caspase 9, BrdU and 3HT. We used rats (P4), the time of sacrifice was at 3 h, 6 h, 12 h, 36 h, 15 d, 30 d, 90 d and 120 d. This research has been divided in 3 experiments. Experiment A, we administrated BrdU (100 mg/kg) and we detected the cellular proliferation. Experiment B, we used glutamate (4 mg/g, sc), and we observed the cellular death. Experiment C, we used glutamate, BrdU and EGF+FGF-2 (5 ng/g, sc). Results and conclusions: the results obtained indicate that we can induce the neuronal regeneration of the arcuate nucleus by means of use of EGF and FGF-2, and we identify the third ventricle like a zone of neurogenesis.