Hippocampal neurogenesis and memory

描述（由申请人提供）：越来越多的证据表明，成年动物的海马体中终生都会产生新的神经元，并且已经假设海马体神经发生在记忆功能中起关键作用。记忆是心理健康的重要组成部分，因此了解神经发生的调节至关重要。这项研究将探讨环境复杂性与食物贮藏鸟类海马可塑性之间的关系。丰富的环境似乎可以诱导成体神经发生，但目前尚不清楚环境的哪些特定方面负责促进神经发生。此外，所有研究环境富集的实验都是在实验室条件下进行的，与自然环境相比，实验室条件总是很差。这项研究将调查是否自然的记忆为基础的经验是必要的，以维持海马结构，以及是否缺乏这样的经验的结果减少海马体积，海马神经元的损失和减少神经发生使用一种新的动物模型-食物缓存鸟类。食物缓存鸟类严重依赖记忆来寻找先前制作的食物缓存，缓存恢复行为为在受控实验室和自然条件下研究记忆和大脑提供了一个很好的自然模型。将生活在自然条件下的鸟类与在标准和富集实验室条件下饲养的鸟类进行比较，以确定富集实验室条件下的海马神经发生是否与生活在自然环境中的动物相当。这个建议的总体目标是评估自然记忆为基础的经验和海马在实验室和自然条件下使用一种新的动物模型之间的关系。本研究为记忆训练对海马结构和神经发生的影响提供了新的信息，对记忆和心理健康具有重要意义。这项拟议中的研究将调查锻炼记忆力是否是维持健康记忆和海马体所必需的，海马体是大脑中参与记忆功能的区域，以及大脑维持是否需要多样化的环境。记忆是心理健康的一个重要方面，拟议的研究将为更好地理解人类记忆障碍提供新的见解。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There is growing evidence that new neurons are generated in the hippocampus of adult animals throughout life and it has been hypothesized that hippocampal neurogenesis plays a critical role in memory function. Memory is an important component of mental health and thus it is crucial to understand regulation of neurogenesis. The proposed study will investigate the relationship between environmental complexity and hippocampal plasticity in food-caching birds. Enriched environment appears to induce adult neurogenesis but it is not clear which specific aspects of environment are responsible for facilitating neurogenesis. In addition, all experiments investigating environmental enrichment have been done in laboratory conditions, which are always poor compared to natural environment. This study will investigate whether natural memory-based experiences are necessary to maintain hippocampal structure and whether lack of such experiences results in reduced hippocampal volume, loss of hippocampal neurons and reduced neurogenesis using a novel animal model - food-caching birds. Food-caching birds are heavily dependent on memory to find previously made food caches and cache-recovery behavior presents a great natural model to study memory and the brain both in controlled laboratory and natural conditions. Birds living in natural conditions will be compared to the birds maintained in standard and in enriched laboratory conditions to establish whether hippocampal neurogenesis in enriched laboratory conditions is comparable to that in animals living in natural environments. The overall aim of this proposal is to evaluate the relationships between natural memory-based experiences and the hippocampus both in laboratory and in natural conditions using a novel animal model. This study will provide new information on the effects of memory exercise on the hippocampal structure and neurogenesis, which have important implications for memory and mental health. The proposed study will investigate whether exercising memory is necessary for maintaining healthy memory and the hippocampus, an area of the brain involved in memory function and whether diverse environment is needed for brain maintenance. Memory is an important aspect of mental health and the proposed research will provide new insights into better understanding of human memory disorders.