Email this page

Print this page

Article Addendum

Conditional deletion of TrkB alters adult hippocampal neurogenesis and anxiety-related behavior

Matteo Bergami, Benedikt Berninger and Marco Canossa

This is an open-access article

 Download PDF

If the document does not open, please right-click on the link (control-click on a Macintosh) and select the option to save the file to disk.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a member of the neurotrophin family, which has been reported to regulate neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus, but the molecular control over this process remains unclear. We demonstrated that by activating TrkB receptor tyrosine kinase, BDNF controls the size of the surviving pool of newborn neurons at the time of connectivity. The TrkB-dependent decision regarding survival in these newborn neurons takes place just when they are integrated into the existing neural network at approximately 4 weeks of age. Before newborn neurons start to die they exhibit a drastic reduction in dendritic complexity and spine density, which may reflect a failure of these cells to integrate appropriately. Both the failure to become integrated, and subsequent dying, leads to impaired neurogenesis-dependent plasticity and increased anxiety-like behavior in mice lacking a functional TrkB receptor in newborn neurons. Thus, our data demonstrate the importance of BDNF/TrkB signaling for the survival and integration of newborn neurons in the adult hippocampus and suggest a critical function of these neurons in regulating the anxiety state of the animal.

Bergami M, Rimondini R, Santi S, Blum R, Götz M, Canossa M. Deletion of TrkB in adult progenitors alters newborn neuron integration into hippocampal circuits and increases anxiety-like behavior. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2008; 105:15570-5. PMCID: PMC2557028

Authors

Matteo Bergami

University of Bologna

Benedikt Berninger

Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich

Marco Canossa

Italian Institute of Technology; and University of Bologna

This is an open-access article

 Download PDF

If the document does not open, please right-click on the link (control-click on a Macintosh) and select the option to save the file to disk.