Stat3 Controls Maturation and Terminal Differentiation in Mouse Hippocampal Neurons

The hippocampus is an important region in the brain, responsible for learning, memory, and emotion. The hippocampus is composed of abundant neuronal cells, of which maturation is critical to physiological function and neural disease occurrence. Although the factors affecting neuronal maturation in the hippocampus has been widely studied, the specific mechanism involved in this process is still elusive to us. In the current study, Stat3 silencing and overexpression was achieved through lentivirus and adenovirus system. We found that hippocampal neuronal maturation was enhanced when Stat3 was downregulated. By contrast, formation of neurosphreres was observed in hippocampal cultures due to the overexpression of Stat3. In addition, these neuropheres had the capacity to differentiate into different cell subtypes, indicating the acquisition of multipotency when Stat3 was overexpressed in hippocampal cells. These processes were correlated with MAPK signaling, indicating the potential linkage among Stat3 expression, MAPK activation, and neuronal maturation. Above all, this study demonstrated the role of Stat3 in hippocampal neuronal maturation and differentiation. Also, the molecular mechanism was explored through the MAPK signal manipulation.