IIBBA   05544
INSTITUTO DE INVESTIGACIONES BIOQUIMICAS DE BUENOS AIRES
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
ADULT NEUROGENESIS: INTEGRATION OF NEW NEURONS IN THE PREEXISTING HIPPOCAMPAL NETWORK
Autor/es:
SCHINDER AF
Lugar:
Los Cardales, Buenos Aires
Reunión:
Simposio; Exciting Biologies: Biology in Balance; 2009
Institución organizadora:
Cell Press, Foundation Ipsen and Massachussetts General Hospital
Resumen:
The adult dentate gyrus continuously generates a substantial amount of neurons that contribute significantly to hippocampal
function. How newly generated neurons integrate in a fully established network in a manner that is both safe and functionally
relevant remains a puzzle. Over the last few years we have investigated this phenomenon in detail and found that
functional integration is a slow and tightly controlled process: new neurons develop over several weeks and follow a
sequence of maturation and connectivity that recapitulates those events occurring during perinatal development. Developing
neurons go over a period of enhanced excitability that allows them to maintain a high level of activation even when
afferent excitation is weak. This high excitability is transient and decreases to a lower level as neurons approach maturity.
When fully mature, new neurons display input and output properties that cannot be distinguished from those of dentate
granule cells generated in the developing brain. What are the intrinsic and extrinsic cues that determine the identity and
strength of inputs and outputs, the rules of connectivity? We hypothesize that a cell-autonomous program determines
the amount of excitation and inhibition that a dentate granule cell must gather in order to achieve a target level of intrinsic
firing activity. We are currently using retroviral vectors to express a variety of transgenes in dividing progenitor cells of the
adult dentate gyrus to investigate how maturation and functional integration are affected when the excitation/inhibition balance
is shifted.