title: Persistent increases in the pool of doublecortin-expressing neurons in the hippocampus following spatial navigation training.
abstract: In addition to its role in neuronal migration during embryonic development, doublecortin (DCX) plays a role in hippocampal neurogenesis across the lifespan. Hippocampal neurons exhibit a high degree of synaptic plasticity while they are in the DCX phase. While previous studies have reported that behavioral training on hippocampus-dependent tasks can enhance neuron survival, little was known about the stage of development of those neurons and, particularly, whether a large pool of the surviving new neurons remains in the DCX phase for a prolonged period after training. Here we report that spatial navigation training increases the pool of neurons that are in the DCX phase 4 weeks after training ended. Thus, the stock of DCX-expressing neurons in the hippocampus is affected by whether a hippocampus-dependent task has been encountered during the preceding few weeks.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Wilmington, NC 28403-5612, USA. keithj@uncw.edu
authors.forename: Julian R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Keith
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Priester
authors.forename: Mitchell
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ferguson
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Salling
authors.forename: Aneeka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hancock
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D001973:Bromodeoxyuridine / Q000378:metabolism; D002452:Cell Count; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D000089622:Doublecortin Domain Proteins; D000089662:Doublecortin Protein; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology*; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism*; D009479:Neuropeptides / Q000378:metabolism*; D010751:Phosphopyruvate Hydratase / Q000378:metabolism; D010805:Physical Conditioning, Animal; D051381:Rats; D020318:Rats, Long-Evans; D011930:Reaction Time; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D015854:Up-Regulation / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: C000714848:Dcx protein, rat; D000089622:Doublecortin Domain Proteins; D000089662:Doublecortin Protein; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins; D009479:Neuropeptides; D010751:Phosphopyruvate Hydratase; D001973:Bromodeoxyuridine