title: Time-lapse imaging reveals highly dynamic structural maturation of postnatally born dentate granule cells in organotypic entorhino-hippocampal slice cultures.
abstract: Neurogenesis of hippocampal granule cells (GCs) persists throughout mammalian life and is important for learning and memory. How newborn GCs differentiate and mature into an existing circuit during this time period is not yet fully understood. We established a method to visualize postnatally generated GCs in organotypic entorhino-hippocampal slice cultures (OTCs) using retroviral (RV) GFP-labeling and performed time-lapse imaging to study their morphological development in vitro. Using anterograde tracing we could, furthermore, demonstrate that the postnatally generated GCs in OTCs, similar to adult born GCs, grow into an existing entorhino-dentate circuitry. RV-labeled GCs were identified and individual cells were followed for up to four weeks post injection. Postnatally born GCs exhibited highly dynamic structural changes, including dendritic growth spurts but also retraction of dendrites and phases of dendritic stabilization. In contrast, older, presumably prenatally born GCs labeled with an adeno-associated virus (AAV), were far less dynamic. We propose that the high degree of structural flexibility seen in our preparations is necessary for the integration of newborn granule cells into an already existing neuronal circuit of the dentate gyrus in which they have to compete for entorhinal input with cells generated and integrated earlier.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Neuroanatomy, NeuroScience Center, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Tijana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Radic
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Neuroanatomy, NeuroScience Center, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Tassilo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jungenitz
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Neuroanatomy, NeuroScience Center, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Mathias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Singer
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Neuroanatomy, NeuroScience Center, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.|Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.|Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS), Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Beining
authors.affiliation: Ernst Strüngmann Institute (ESI) for Neuroscience in Cooperation with Max Planck Society, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.|Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS), Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Hermann
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cuntz
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Neuroanatomy, NeuroScience Center, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vlachos
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Neuroanatomy, NeuroScience Center, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Deller
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Neuroanatomy, NeuroScience Center, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
authors.forename: Stephan W
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Schwarzacher
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D015415:Biomarkers; D018891:Dentate Gyrus / Q000166:cytology* / Q000254:growth & development*; D015870:Gene Expression; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000166:cytology* / Q000502:physiology*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D051379:Mice; D055495:Neurogenesis; D013997:Time Factors; D059008:Time-Lapse Imaging; D014161:Transduction, Genetic
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers