Lhx8 promote differentiation of hippocampal neural stem/progenitor cells into cholinergic neurons in vitro.

Lhx8, also named L3, is a recently identified member of the LIM homeobox gene family. Previously, we found acetylcholinesterase (AChE)-positive cells in fimbria-fornix (FF) transected rat hippocampal subgranular zone (SGZ). In the present study, we detected choline acetyltransferase (ChAT)-positive cholinergic cells in hippocampal SGZ after FF transaction, and these ChAT-positive cells were double labeled by Lhx8. Then we overexpressed Lhx8 during neural differentiation of hippocampal neural stem/progenitor cells on adherent conditions using lentivirus Lenti6.3-Lhx8. The result indicated that overexpression of Lhx8 did not affect the proportion of MAP2-positive neurons, but increased the proportion of ChAT-positive cells in vitro. These results suggested that FF-transected hippocampal niche promoted the ChAT/Lhx8-positive cholinergic neurons generation in rodent hippocampus, and Lhx8 was not associated with the MAP2-positive neurons differentiation on adherent conditions, but played a role in the specification of cholinergic neurons derived from hippocampal neural stem/progenitor cells in vitro.