Vascular endothelial growth factor promotes transdifferentiation of astrocytes into neurons via activation of the MAPK/Erk-Pax6 signal pathway.

Reactive astrocytes can be transformed into new neurons. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) promotes the transformation of reactive astrocytes into neurons in ischemic brain. Therefore, in this study, the molecular mechanism of VEGF's effect on ischemia/hypoxia-induced astrocyte to neuron transformation was investigated in the models of rat middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) and in astrocyte culture with oxygen and glucose deprivation (OGD). We found that VEGF enhanced ischemia-induced Pax6, a neurogenic fate determinant, expression and Erk phosphorylation in reactive astrocytes and reduced infarct volume of rat brain at 3 days after MCAO, which effects could be blocked by administration of U0126, a MAPK/Erk inhibitor. In cultured astrocytes, VEGF also enhanced OGD-induced Erk phosphorylation and Pax6 expression, which was blocked by U0126, but not wortmannin, a PI3K/Akt inhibitor, or SB203580, a MAPK/p38 inhibitor, suggesting VEGF enhanced Pax6 expression via activation of MAPK/Erk pathway. OGD induced the increase of miR365 and VEGF inhibited the increase of OGD-induced miR365 expression. However, miR365 agonists blocked VEGF-enhanced Pax6 expression in hypoxic astrocytes, but did not block VEGF-enhanced Erk phosphorylation. We further found that VEGF promoted OGD-induced astrocyte-converted to neuron. Interestingly, both U0126 and Pax6 RNAi significantly reduced enhancement of VEGF on astrocytes-to-neurons transformation, as indicated Dcx and MAP2 immunopositive signals in reactive astrocytes. Moreover, those transformed neurons become mature and functional. We concluded that VEGF enhanced astrocytic neurogenesis via the MAPK/Erk-miR-365-Pax6 signal axis. The results also indicated that astrocytes play important roles in the reconstruction of neurovascular units in brain after stroke.