Investigating Tonic Wnt Signaling Throughout the Adult CNS and in the Hippocampal Neurogenic Niche of BatGal and Ins-TopGal Mice

Wnt/beta-catenin signaling has a well-established role in the development of the central nervous system (CNS), and recent evidence is extending this role to include the regulation of adult hippocampal function, including neurogenesis within the dentate gyrus. While the neuroanatomical expression pattern of many canonical Wnt signaling components have been investigated, the sites of signal integration and functional downstream beta-catenin activation remain comparatively less characterized in the adult CNS. Using two independent transgenic beta-catenin-activated LacZ reporter mouse lines (BatGal and ins-TopGal), we demonstrate that Wnt/beta-catenin signaling is active in discrete regions of the adult mouse CNS. Intriguingly, BatGal mice exhibit a broad pattern of reporter expression in the CNS, while expression in ins-TopGal mice is more restricted. Further investigation of these two lines reveals temporal differences in beta-catenin-activated reporter expression during neurogenesis within the adult hippocampus. Ins-TopGal mice display peaks of Wnt/beta-catenin-activated reporter expression during early and later stages of neurogenesis suggesting Wnt/beta-catenin signaling plays an important role during both progenitor cell amplification as well as neuronal maturation, integration, and/or maintenance; however, results from BatGal mice are not as convincing. Thus our data using ins-TopGal mice are consistent with the idea that Wnt signaling plays diverse roles during adult hippocampal neurogenesis and support the idea that multiple transgenic reporter lines must be rigorously compared during scientific investigations.