Photoactivation of TGFβ/SMAD signaling pathway ameliorates adult hippocampal neurogenesis in Alzheimer’s disease model

BACKGROUND: Adult hippocampal neurogenesis (AHN) is restricted under the pathological conditions of neurodegenerative diseases, especially in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The drop of AHN reduces neural circuit plasticity, resulting in the decrease of the generation of newborn neurons in dentate gyrus (DG), which makes it difficult to recover from learning/memory dysfunction in AD, therefore, it is imperative to find a therapeutic strategy to promote neurogenesis and clarify its underlying mechanism involved. METHODS: Amyloid precursor protein/presenilin 1 (APP/PS1) mice were treated with photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) for 0.1 mW/mm(2) per day in the dark for 1 month (10 min for each day). The neural stem cells (NSCs) were isolated from hippocampus of APP/PS1 transgenic mice at E14, and the cells were treated with PBMT for 0.667 mW/mm(2) in the dark (5 min for each time). RESULTS: In this study, photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) is found to promote AHN in APP/PS1 mice. The latent transforming growth factor-β1 (LTGFβ1) was activated in vitro and in vivo during PBMT-induced AHN, which promoted the differentiation of hippocampal APP/PS1 NSCs into newborn neurons. In particular, behavioral experiments showed that PBMT enhanced the spatial learning/memory ability of APP/PS1 mice. Mechanistically, PBMT-stimulated reactive oxygen species (ROS) activates TGFβ/Smad signaling pathway to increase the interaction of the transcription factors Smad2/3 with Smad4 and competitively reduce the association of Smad1/5/9 with Smad4, thereby significantly upregulating the expression of doublecortin (Dcx)/neuronal class-III β-tubulin (Tuj1) and downregulating the expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). These in vitro effects were abrogated when eliminating ROS. Furthermore, specific inhibition of TGFβ receptor I (TGFβR I) attenuates the DNA-binding efficiency of Smad2/3 to the Dcx promotor triggered by PBMT. CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrates that PBMT, as a viable therapeutic strategy, directs the adult hippocampal APP/PS1 NSCs differentiate towards neurons, which has great potential value for ameliorating the drop of AHN in Alzheimer’s disease mice. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13287-021-02399-2.