The Vollum Institute, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR 97239, USA.
Behav Brain Res. 2012 Feb 14;227(2):348-55. doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2011.03.048. Epub 2011 Apr 1.
Neurons are born and become a functional part of the synaptic circuitry in adult brains. The proliferative phase of neurogenesis has been extensively reviewed. We therefore focus this review on a few topics addressing the functional role of adult-generated newborn neurons in the dentate gyrus. We discuss the evidence for a link between neurogenesis and behavior. We then describe the steps in the integration of newborn neurons into a functioning mature synaptic circuit. Given the profound effects of neural activity on the differentiation and integration of newborn neurons, we discuss the role of activity-dependent gene expression in the birth and maturation of newborn neurons. The differentiation and maturation of newborn neurons likely involves the concerted action of many genes. Thus we focus on transcription factors that can direct large changes to the transcriptome, and microRNAs, a newly-discovered class of molecules that can effect the expression of hundreds of genes. How microRNAs affect the generation and integration of newborn neurons is just being explored, but there are compelling clues hinting at their involvement.
神经元在成年大脑中产生并成为突触回路的功能部分。神经发生的增殖阶段已经得到了广泛的研究。因此，我们将重点放在几个主题上，讨论成年产生的新神经元在齿状回中的功能作用。我们讨论了神经发生与行为之间的联系的证据。然后，我们描述了新神经元整合到成熟的突触回路中的步骤。鉴于神经活动对新神经元的分化和整合有深远的影响，我们讨论了活性依赖性基因表达在新神经元的产生和成熟中的作用。新神经元的分化和成熟可能涉及许多基因的协同作用。因此，我们专注于可以指导转录组发生重大变化的转录因子，以及 microRNAs，这是一类新发现的分子，可以影响数百个基因的表达。microRNAs 如何影响新神经元的产生和整合才刚刚开始探索，但有一些令人信服的线索暗示了它们的参与。
