Delayed maturation of granule cells generated in the aging hippocampus is prevented by running

TRINCHERO MF; SULKES JN; SCHINDER AF

Córdoba

Congreso; Annual meeting of argentine society for neuroscience; 2013

Society for Research in Neuroscience

Neural progenitor cells of the adult dentate gyrus can differentiate and developinto fully functional neurons. Adult neurogenesis is tightly regulated by severalphysiological conditions. For instance, we have recently demonstrated that thetiming of neuronal maturation is regulated by the activity of the surroundingnetworks. Since aging is one important factor associated to decreased rates ofneuronal production, in the present work we investigated whether maturation ofadult‐born neurons was also affected by age. To approach this question we usedretroviral labeling of adult‐born neurons to compare granule cells developing in 2‐,5‐ and 8‐month old mice (work in progress). We have analyzed the morphologyand expression of neuronal markers at different stages of neuronal development(dpi; days post‐infection). Fourteen and 21 dpi neurons in 5‐month‐old micedisplayed immature features when compared to neurons of the same age in 2‐month‐old mice; however, similar levels of maturity were observed by 28 dpi. Suchdelayed maturation in the aged hippocampus seems to correlate to reduced levelsof network activity (measured by ARC expression in the dentate gyrus).Interestingly, the observed delay was reverted by housing mice with a runningwheel. We are currently investigating the mechanisms underlying the agedependentdelay in neuronal maturation.