Study Of Influence Of Altitude Environment On The Adult Neurogenesis In Phrynocephalus Vlangalii

In the nineteen nineties, people have found that neural stem cells still exist in human and animals, and these neural stem cells can constantly generate new neurons and astrozytes in life span. But so far, the study of reptiles’ adult neurogenesis is less. As a typical lizard species in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in northwest China, Phrynocephalus vlangalii locate at an altitude from2000m to4500m, Living at different altitude has great influence on individual development.Objective:The aim of present study is to investigate the influence of high-altitude living environment on the proliferation of adult neural stem cells and survival of newborn cells in Phrynocephalus vlangalii.Methods:At altitude of2500m,3500m,4500m in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in northwest China, we captured30healthy adult male Phrynocephalus vlangalii in each area, and divided them into three groups randomly, each group has ten experimental animals. Phrynocephalus vlangalii were intraperitoneally injected with BrdU in order to label dividing cells, respectively let them survive for24h,7d and28d. DAB-immunocytochemistry was performed. Microscope imaging was used to observe the location newborn cells and to count the number of BrdU-positive cells.Results:In the region of AON of Phrynocephalus vlangalii, the BrdU-positive cells in high-altitude group significantly reduced by48.9%and46.9%compared with that of low-altitude group and intermediate-altitude group(P<0.05), indicating that the high-altitude environment inhibits the proliferation of adult neural stem cells in Phrynocephalus vlangalii. In the process of survival of the newborn cells from7days to28days, the number of neural stem cells in high-altitude group showed significantly increasing and declining, indicating that the high-altitude environment influence the survival of newborn cells in phrynocephalus vlangalii.Conclusion:In the high-altitude environment, the proliferation of adult neural stem cells in Phrynocephalus vlangalii is significantly decreased, and the survival of newborn cells is significantly affected.