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Adult-born neurons add flexibility to hippocampal memories

Fölsz, Orsolya; Trouche, Stéphanie; Croset, Vincent

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Authors

Orsolya Fölsz

Stéphanie Trouche



Abstract

Although most neurons are generated embryonically, neurogenesis is maintained at low rates in specific brain areas throughout adulthood, including the dentate gyrus of the mammalian hippocampus. Episodic-like memories encoded in the hippocampus require the dentate gyrus to decorrelate similar experiences by generating distinct neuronal representations from overlapping inputs (pattern separation). Adult-born neurons integrating into the dentate gyrus circuit compete with resident mature cells for neuronal inputs and outputs, and recruit inhibitory circuits to limit hippocampal activity. They display transient hyperexcitability and hyperplasticity during maturation, making them more likely to be recruited by any given experience. Behavioral evidence suggests that adult-born neurons support pattern separation in the rodent dentate gyrus during encoding, and they have been proposed to provide a temporal stamp to memories encoded in close succession. The constant addition of neurons gradually degrades old connections, promoting generalization and ultimately forgetting of remote memories in the hippocampus. This makes space for new memories, preventing saturation and interference. Overall, a small population of adult-born neurons appears to make a unique contribution to hippocampal information encoding and removal. Although several inconsistencies regarding the functional relevance of neurogenesis remain, in this review we argue that immature neurons confer a unique form of transience on the dentate gyrus that complements synaptic plasticity to help animals flexibly adapt to changing environments.

Citation

Fölsz, O., Trouche, S., & Croset, V. (2023). Adult-born neurons add flexibility to hippocampal memories. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 17, Article 1128623. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2023.1128623

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jan 30, 2023
Online Publication Date Feb 15, 2023
Publication Date 2023
Deposit Date Mar 11, 2023
Publicly Available Date Apr 28, 2023
Journal Frontiers in Neuroscience
Print ISSN 1662-4548
Electronic ISSN 1662-453X
Publisher Frontiers Media
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 17
Article Number 1128623
DOI https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2023.1128623
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1177263

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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Copyright Statement
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.





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