Magnesium Supplementation Potentiates Neural Stem Cell Proliferation in the Hippocampus of Young and Aged Mice
Shanshan Jia Journal of Cellular Physiology 2016 231 Issue 4
In the adult brain, neural stem cells (NSCs) can self-renew and generate all neural lineage types, and they persist in the sub-granular zone (SGZ) of the hippocampus and the sub-ventricular zone (SVZ) of the cortex. Here, we show that dietary-supplemented magnesium regulates the NSC pool in the adult hippocampus. We found that administration of both short- and long-term regimens of magnesium-L-threonate (MgT), a magnesium ion supplement, increased the number of hippocampal NSCs.
We demonstrated that in young mice, dietary supplementation with MgT significantly enhanced NSC proliferation in the SGZ. Importantly, in aged mice that underwent long-term (12-month) supplementation with MgT, MgT did not deplete the hippocampal NSC reservoir but rather curtailed the age-associated decline in NSC proliferation. We further established an association between extracellular magnesium concentrations and NSC self-renewal in vitro by demonstrating that elevated Mg2+ concentrations can maintain or increase the number of cultured hippocampal NSCs. Our study also suggests key signaling pathways for cell growth and proliferation as candidates of Mg2+'s target of action on NSC self-renewal.