Diminished adult neurogenesis in the marmoset brain precedes old age.
With aging there is a decline in the number of newly generated neurons in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus. In rodents and tree shrews, this age-related decrease in neurogenesis is evident long before the animals become aged. No previous studies have investigated whether primates exhibit a similar decline in hippocampal neurogenesis with aging. To investigate this possibility, young to middle aged adult common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) were injected with BrdU and perfused 3 weeks later. The number of newly generated cells in the subgranular zone/granule cell layer of the dentate gyrus was significantly lower in older animals and decreased linearly with age. A similar age-related decline in new cells was observed in the subventricular zone but not in the hilar region of the dentate gyrus. These data demonstrate that a substantial decrease in neurogenesis occurs before the onset of old age in the adult marmoset brain, suggesting the possibility that similar alterations occur in the human brain.
Leuner
Benedetta
B
Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
Kozorovitskiy
Yevgenia
Y
Gross
Charles G
CG
Gould
Elizabeth
E
D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D001921:Brain / Q000166:cytology* / Q000196:embryology* / Q000502:physiology; D001973:Bromodeoxyuridine / Q000378:metabolism; D002144:Callithrix / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D004247:DNA / Q000096:biosynthesis; D018891:Dentate Gyrus / Q000166:cytology; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*; D038081:Organogenesis
D015415:Biomarkers; D004247:DNA; D001973:Bromodeoxyuridine