Traumatic brain injury has a lasting impact on hippocampal neurogenesis and Notch1 is involved in regulating this injury response

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) induces a series of neuropathological changes in the brain including neurogenesis, an important cellular response involved in brain repair and regeneration. TBI-enhanced neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus is of particular importance due its contribution to learning and memory functions. In the neurogenic process, proliferation and differentiation of neural stem cells (NSCs) follow a well-characterized sequence controlled by many factors including Notch1, which plays essential roles in regulating NSC fate determination under physiological conditions in both developing and adult brains. Following TBI, the dynamic changes of NSCs and the involvement of Notch1 on their development at different stages post-injury are not fully characterized. In the current study, we examined the impact of TBI and Notch1 on NSCs proliferation, survival and neuronal differentiation. Utilizing transgenic mice with tamoxifen-induced GFP expression and Notch1 knock-out in nestin+ NSCs, we examined DG neurogenic response at acute, subacute and chronic stages following a moderate lateral fluid percussion injury. We found that TBI enhanced a proliferative response in the DG at the acute stage following injury; however, this injury response was abolished when Notch1 was conditionally deleted from nestin+ NSCs. We also found that injury and Notch1 deletion drove NSCs committing fate choice towards neuronal differentiation. The results of this study provides further knowledge regarding TBI-induced neurogenic response and Notch1 as the key regulating mechanism.