Departamental Seminar

ALEJANDRO F. SCHINDER

Baltimore

Conferencia; Bodian Seminar, The Zanvyl Krieger Mind/Brain Institute, Johns Hopkins University; 2016

Adult neurogenesis as a mechanism for hippocampal remodeling and spatial discrimination The dentate gyrus of the hippocampus presents unique forms of plasticity conferred by the continuous generation of granule cells (GCs) that make millions of new connections every day and, thus, remodel the existing networks. Evidence accumulated during recent years has shown that mice display impairment in spatial discrimination when adult neurogenesis is reduced or new neurons are silenced. My lab has focused on understanding how new GCs modify the preexisting circuits in a manner that is meaningful for information processing. We found that developing GCs are functionally relevant before reaching maturity due to a combination of intrinsic and network properties that make them very active and highly susceptible to activity-dependent synaptic modification, distinct from all other neurons in the circuit. Thus, integration of new neurons in the network is largely tailored by ongoing experience. In my talk I will dig into mechanisms that shape development, integration and function of new GCs and discuss their specific contribution for the discrimination of similar inputs.