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. 2023 Oct 10;14:1193053. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1193053

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Neurogenesis and its role in learning and memory, cognitive function, and emotion. (A) The area of neurogenesis is limited to the SVZ of the lateral ventricle and the SGZ of the hippocampus. (B) Radial glial stem cells in the subgranular zone produce neural stem cells (NSCs). Amplifying progenitor cells located in the subgranular zone arise from the asymmetric division of NSCs and differentiate into neuroblasts. Neuroblasts migrate into the granule cell layer to develop into immature granule neurons. Immature neurons grow into mature neurons, and their dendritic trees gradually extend to the molecular layer and axons extend to the CA3 subfields. (C) Under normal conditions, the axons of new granule neurons located in the DG area will extend to the CA3 and CA2 subfields to establish synaptic contacts with pyramidal neurons and integrate the pre-existing circuits, playing an important role in behaviors associated with the hippocampus. Rodents with normal neurogenesis have typical responses in some emotional tests (such as OFT, EPM, SPT, TST, and FST) and cognitive tests (such as MWM and Barnes maze). (D) In some neuropsychiatric diseases, hippocampal neurogenesis is impaired, manifested by decreased newborn neurons and impaired synaptic connections with pyramidal neurons in the CA3 and CA2 subfields. Compared to normal rodents, rodents with impaired neurogenesis exhibit anxiety-like behaviors (such as reduced entry times and residence times in the central zone in the OFT; reduced the number and frequency of exploring the open arm, and prefer to stay in the closed arm in the EPM) or depression-like behaviors on certain mood tests (such as inactive behaviors in the FST and TST; anhedonia in SPT), and impaired social cognition on some cognitive tests (such as unable to locate the location of the hidden platform in the MWM and the location of the markers in the Barnes maze). SVZ subventricular zone, SGZ subgranular zone, DG dentate gyrus, OFT open field test, EPM Elevated Plus Maze, SPT Sucrose Preference Test, TST Tail Suspension Test, FST Forced Swimming Test, MWM Morris Water Maze.