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UNC School of Medicine neuroscientists discover a long-distance brain circuit that controls the production of new neurons in the hippocampus. Research could have implications for understanding and treating many brain disorders, including epilepsy, schizophrenia, depression, and Alzheimer’s disease
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Reported as the cover story in Cell Stem Cell, the researchers identified a neurogenesis-controlling brain circuit that runs from near the front of the brain back to the hippocampus, a learning- and memory-related structure. The hippocampus is one of the major sites of neurogenesis in the adult human brain, and the circuit that Song’s team has identified regulates this neuron-producing process.
“This circuit controls the activity of stem cells in the part of the hippocampus where neurogenesis occurs,” said Song, a member of the UNC Neuroscience Center. “Our finding ultimately could have implications for understanding and treating many brain disorders arising from aberrant hippocampal neurogenesis, including epilepsy, schizophrenia, depression, and Alzheimer’s disease.”
Neural stem cells are like stem cells in other tissues and organs – they give birth, if needed, to new cells that replace dead or dying ones. Most of the neurons in the adult brain are wired tightly into complex circuits and are not replaced.
The chief exception is the dentate gyrus (DG) region of the hippocampus. Neurogenesis in the DG occurs throughout adult life and supports the hippocampus’s crucial functions in storing and retrieving memories. DG neurogenesis has been linked to mood as well. In fact, scientists suspect that the mood-improving effects of antidepressant drugs and physical exercise arise at least in part from the boost they give to DG neurogenesis.
Via iPamba, Miloš Bajčetić
