Regulation of hippocampal postnatal and adult neurogenesis by adenosine <scp> A <sub>2A</sub> </scp> receptor: Interaction with brain‐derived neurotrophic factor
Filipa F. Ribeiro, Filipa Ferreira, Rui S. Rodrigues, Rita Soares, Diogo Mendes Pedro, Marta Duarte‐Samartinho, Rita I. Aroeira, Elisabete Ferreiro, Jorge Valero, Susana Solá, Helena Mira, Ana M. Sebastião, Sara Xapelli
Abstract
Adenosine A2A receptor (A2AR) activation modulates several brain processes, ranging from neuronal maturation to synaptic plasticity. Most of these actions occur through the modulation of the actions of the neurotrophin brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). In this work, we studied the role of A2ARs in regulating postnatal and adult neurogenesis in the rat hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG). Here, we show that A2AR activation with CGS 21680 promoted neural stem cell self-renewal, protected committed neuronal cells from cell death and contributed to a higher density of immature and mature neuronal cells, particularly glutamatergic neurons. Moreover, A2AR endogenous activation was found to be essential for BDNF-mediated increase in cell proliferation and neuronal differentiation. Our findings contribute to further understand the role of adenosinergic signaling in the brain and may have an impact in the development of strategies for brain repair under pathological conditions.