Running rewires the neuronal network of adult-born dentate granule cells.

ABSTRACT: Exercise improves cognition in humans and animals. Running increases neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus, a brain area important for learning and memory. It is unclear how running modifies the circuitry of new dentate gyrus neurons to support their role in memory function. Here we combine retroviral labeling with rabies virus mediated trans-synaptic retrograde tracing to define and quantify new neuron afferent inputs in young adult male C57Bl/6 mice, housed with or without a running wheel for one month. Exercise resulted in a shift in new neuron networks that may promote sparse encoding and pattern separation. Neurogenesis increased in the dorsal, but not the ventral, dentate gyrus by three-fold, whereas afferent traced cell labeling doubled in number. Regional analysis in

SUBMITTER: Vivar C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6003242 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature