The neuronal primary cilium: driver of neurogenesis and memory formation in the hippocampal dentate gyrus?

Considerable attention has recently been focused on the postnatal persistence of neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus and the roles of signals from the primary cilium in the different functions of an increasing number of tissues and their malfunctions. Here we summarize the evidence that ties sonic hedgehog-triggered proliferogenic signaling from the primary cilia on granule cell progenitors in the adult dentate subgranular zone to maintain a pool of new "blank slate" dentate granule cells. These can be recruited to bundle and encode novel inputs flowing from various regions of the brain into the dentate gyrus via the entorhinal cortex without altering and erasing the synaptic patterns from previous inputs inscribed on older granule cells.