Investigation of the functional role of adult hippocampal neurogenesis in a neural network model

海马体是一种大脑结构，对情景记忆和导航很重要。它的特殊之处在于，它在一个叫做齿状回的子结构中产生新的神经元。在早期的工作中，我们提出了一个新的神经元的功能假设，并说明了它与一个简单的网络模型。我们提出的项目是基于这项工作，有三个主要目标。首先，我们将扩展我们现有的抽象模型，包括海马体的突出解剖和生理特征。这将使我们能够量化神经发生的计算优势，而不仅仅是定性地显示其益处。其次，我们将进行详细的实验比较，以测试我们的模型，以及新的实验可检验的预测，例如，在不同的饲养条件下的动物神经发生的时间过程。这将涉及我们与Gerd Kempermann实验室的富有成效的合作。第三，我们将扩展我们对海马神经发生的功能分析，以考虑齿状回下游区域（如CA1和CA3）的更广泛的影响，这些区域我们到目前为止一直保持隐含。最后，在可能的第三年，我们计划采取一种新的进化方法，并从我们的模型中创建一组越来越简化的版本，追溯海马体的进化发展。比较不同的模型将使我们能够证明模型的每个组成部分。

The hippocampus is a brain structure that is important for episodic memory and for navigation. It is special in that it produces new neurons throughout life in a substructure called dentate gyrus. In earlier work we have proposed a functional hypotheses for the new neurons and have illustrated it with a simple network model. Our proposed project is based on this work and has three main aims. First, we will extend our existing abstract model to include prominent anatomical and physiological features of the hippocampus. This will allow us to quantify the computational advantages of neurogenesis rather than simply show its benefit qualitatively. Second, we will make detailed experimental comparisons to test our model as well as making new experimentally testable predictions on, for example, the time course of neurogenesis in animals subjected to different rearing conditions. This will involve continuation of our fruitful collaboration with the experimental lab of Gerd Kempermann. Third, we will extend our functional analysis of hippocampal neurogenesis to consider the wider implications in areas downstream of the dentate gyrus, such as CA1 and CA3, areas which we have left implicit up until now. Finally, in a potential third year we plan to take a novel evolutionary approach and create from our model a set of increasingly simplified versions that trace back the evolutionary development of the hippocampus. Comparing the different models shall allow us to justify each component of the model.