Investigation

Adult hippocampal neurogenesis (AHN) is an intriguing feature of the brain that has been related with many aspects of both normal and pathological hippocampal function. By furthering our understanding of AHN more light will be shed on how mature neurons are normally generated in an adult brain. Such knowledge will in turn serve to determine how this process can be manipulated and whether it may serve as a putative target for therapeutic interventions after insults which produce neuronal loss. Despite the clear link that exists between AHN and some hippocampal-dependent behaviours, many of the purported roles of AHN still remain to be demonstrated. There is evidence that many different events, both internal and external to the organism, affect the rate of AHN, including: stress, enriched environments, oestrous cycle, seasonal activity, hierarchy encounters, hormone levels, circadian rhythms and many others. These events influence either the proliferation, determination, differentiation, or maturation of the newborn neurons in the dentate gyrus.

Tejido Investigacion

Several recent studies have addressed how exercise affects AHN and consequently how it influences hippocampal-dependent behaviours. It appears that AHN is always related to both the stimuli and the associated behaviour. However, up to date there is not a consensus about what behaviours are neurogenesis-dependent or -independent. Many laboratories are today interested first in investigating which is the true function of the AHN, in what hippocampal tasks are AHN necessary and/or sufficient and which not, as well as which stimuli play its actions mediated by AHN. Second, it is under investigation the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which AHN is regulated.

Neurona Invesetigacion

Exercise has antidepressant and anxiolytic effects as well as increases neurogenesis in rodents, possibly through the activity of some growth factors, such as local factors and circulating IGF-I that enters into the brain. Indeed, anxiolytic treatments such as those involving either antidepressant drugs or electroconvulsive treatment are accompanied by an increase in neurogenesis. In the same way, exercise modulates cognition and improves performance in spatial learning tests concomitantly with increased neurogenesis. Indeed, spatial learning tests modulate neurogenesis.

Contact: jltrejo@cajal.csic.es
Last update: 08/11/2008 · Visits
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