Anatomical gradients of adult neurogenesis and activity: young neurons in the ventral dentate gyrus are activated by water maze training

By J. Snyder, Ruvim Radik, J. Martin Wojtowicz, Heather A. Cameron. 2009

233 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Hippocampal function varies in a subregion‐specific fashion: spatial processing is thought to rely on the dorsal hippocampus, whereas anxiety‐related behavior relies more on the ventral hippocampus. During development, neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus (DG) proceeds along ventral to dorsal as well as suprapyramidal to infrapyramidal gradients, but it is unclear whether regional differences in neurogenesis are maintained in adulthood. Moreover, it is unknown whether young neurons in the adult exhibit subregion‐specific patterns of activation. We therefore examined the magnitude of neurogenesis and the activation of young and mature granule cells in DG subregions in adult rats that learned a spatial water maze task, swam with no platform, or were left untouched. We found that both adult neurogenesis and granule cell activation, as defined by c‐fos expression in the granule cell population as a whole, were higher in the dorsal than the ventral DG. In contrast, c‐fos expression in adult‐born granule cells, identified by PSA‐NCAM or location in the subgranular zone, occurred at a higher rate in the opposite subregion, the ventral DG. Interestingly, c‐fos expression in the entire granule cell population was equivalent in water maze‐trained rats and swim control rats, but was increased in the young granule cells only in the learning condition. These results provide new evidence that hippocampally‐relevant experience activates young and mature neurons in different DG subregions and with different experiential specificity, and suggest that adult‐born neurons may play a specific role in anxiety‐related behavior or other nonspatial aspects of hippocampal function. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Subfields: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Cognitive Neuroscience, Developmental Neuroscience

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience

1. Hongjun Song
2. E. Gould
3. Guo-li Ming
4. B. Leuner
5. Fred H. Gage
6. J. Snyder
7. Heather A. Cameron
8. J. Kamhi

In Cognitive Neuroscience

1. Hongjun Song
2. Guo-li Ming
3. B. Leuner
4. Heather A. Cameron
5. E. Gould
6. J. Snyder
7. J. Kamhi
8. Fred H. Gage

In Developmental Neuroscience

1. Hongjun Song
2. Guo-li Ming
3. Fred H. Gage
4. E. Gould
5. B. Leuner
6. J. Snyder
7. Heather A. Cameron
8. J. Kamhi

Citations in the corpus

• Adult Neurogenesis in the Mammalian Brain: Significant Answers and Significant Questions (2011, background): “Fourth, there are significant regional differences in properties of neuronal precursor subtypes along dorso-ventral/rostro-caudal axes in the adult SGZ and SVZ (Merkle et al., 2007; Snyder et al., 2009).”
• Structural Plasticity and Hippocampal Function (2010, background): “…express IEGs is a complementary noninvasive way in which the role of adult-generated neurons in hippocampal functions has been examined and allows for a comparison of mature versus new populations of neurons (Kee et al. 2007, Ramirez-Amaya et al. 2006, Snyder et al. 2009b, Tashiro et al. 2007).”
• Sialic acids in the brain: gangliosides and polysialic acid in nervous system development, stability, disease, and regeneration. (2014, background): “, exercise (453) or pathological conditions (96, 219, 539).”
• Adult-born hippocampal neurons are more numerous, faster-maturing and more involved in behavior in rats than in mice (2009, methodology): “Therefore, seizure-induced IEG expression provides a measure of whether new neurons are functionally integrated into the circuitry (Jessberger and Kempermann, 2003; Snyder et al., 2009b).”