Matrix signalling and hippocampal neurogenesis
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Date
30/11/2018Author
Rooney, Alasdair Grant
Metadata
Abstract
The adult mammalian brain harbours at least two germinal - or
neurogenic - niches in which new neurons are born throughout life. These neurogenic niches
comprise the subependymal zone which lines the ventricular system, and the subgranular
zone in the hippocampal dentate gyrus. Post-natal hippocampal neurogenesis was in fact first
identified experimentally in the 1960s. However perhaps due partly
to aforementioned institutionalised belief and partly to a lack of accessible experimental
tools, the phenomenon of hippocampal neurogenesis was
widely recognised by the scientific community only shortly before the millennium.
Consequent study has established that adult hippocampal neurogenesis has been conserved
through millions of years of evolution in nearly every mammalian species studied to date. Importantly, post-mortem studies and radioisotope carbon dating techniques suggest that it also occurs in humans.A great
deal of this research has focused on understanding the inner workings of the cells that
undergo the transformation to become new adult-born neurons. By contrast, relatively little
is known about the potential regulatory role of the surrounding extracellular
microenvironment. This might be useful to know in light of much evidence that the
extracellular matrix is a key regulator of developmental neurogenesis.This thesis describes my study of whether extracellular matrix regulates
hippocampal neurogenesis.