Department of Psychology, Queens College, City University of New York, Flushing, New York 11367, USA.
J Neurosci. 2012 May 16;32(20):7052-7. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5385-11.2012.
Adult neurogenesis is thought to provide neural plasticity used in forming and storing new memories. Here we show a novel relationship between numbers of new neurons and the stability of a previously learned motor pattern. In the adult zebra finch, new projection neurons are added to the nucleus HVC and become part of the motor pathway for producing learned song. However, new song learning occurs only in juveniles and the behavioral impact of adding new neurons to HVC throughout life is unclear. We report that song changes after deafening are inversely correlated with the number of new neurons added to HVC, suggesting that adult neurogenesis in this context may contribute to behavioral stability. More broadly, we propose that new neuron function may depend on the site of integration and can vary as widely as promoting, or restricting, behavioral plasticity.
成人神经发生被认为提供了用于形成和存储新记忆的神经可塑性。在这里，我们展示了新神经元数量与先前习得的运动模式稳定性之间的新关系。在成年斑马雀中，新的投射神经元被添加到 HVC 核中，并成为产生习得歌曲的运动途径的一部分。然而，新的歌曲学习仅发生在幼鸟中，并且一生中向 HVC 添加新神经元对行为的影响尚不清楚。我们报告说，失聪后歌曲的变化与添加到 HVC 的新神经元数量呈负相关，这表明这种情况下的成人神经发生可能有助于行为稳定性。更广泛地说，我们提出新神经元的功能可能取决于整合的位置，并且可以像促进或限制行为可塑性一样广泛变化。
