Hippocampal neurogenesis and memory

描述(申请人提供)：越来越多的证据表明，成年动物的海马区终生都会产生新的神经元，并被假设海马区神经发生在记忆功能中起着关键作用。记忆是心理健康的重要组成部分，因此了解神经发生的调控是至关重要的。这项拟议的研究将调查环境复杂性与食物缓存鸟类海马区可塑性之间的关系。丰富的环境似乎可以诱导成人神经发生，但目前还不清楚环境的哪些特定方面促进了神经发生。此外，所有研究环境浓缩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。这项研究将使用一种新的动物模型-食物缓存鸟类来研究基于自然记忆的经验是否对维持海马结构是必要的，以及缺乏这种经验是否会导致海马体体积减少、海马神经元丢失和神经发生减少。食物缓存鸟类在很大程度上依赖于记忆来寻找先前建立的食物缓存，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保持在标准和丰富实验室条件下的鸟类进行比较，以确定丰富实验室条件下的海马神经发生是否可与生活在自然环境中的动物相媲美。这项建议的总体目标是使用一种新的动物模型在实验室和自然条件下评估基于自然记忆的经验和海马体之间的关系。这项研究将为记忆训练对海马区结构和神经发生的影响提供新的信息，这对记忆和心理健康具有重要意义。这项拟议的研究将调查锻炼记忆是否对保持健康的记忆和海马体是必要的，海马体是大脑中参与记忆功能的一个区域，以及大脑维护是否需要多样化的环境。记忆是精神健康的一个重要方面，这项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.