Neuron development

[Guest [Jo...]]

This is actually quite interesting:

 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurogenesis#section_1

 

 

*This was not edited by Challis99.

[[Ch...]]

Yes, very good.  It gives some good ways to help ourselves along with this.

The parts in bold are the parts I thought important:

 

 

Effects of stress

 

Adult-born neurons appear to have a role in the regulation of stress. Studies have linked neurogenesis to the beneficial actions of specific antidepressants, suggesting a connection between decreased hippocampal neurogenesis and depression. In a subsequent paper, scientists demonstrated that the behavioral benefits of antidepressant administration in mice is reversed when neurogenesis is prevented with x-irradiation techniques.[18] In fact, newborn neurons are more excitable than older neurons due to a differential expression of GABA receptors.[citation needed] A plausible model, therefore, is that these neurons augment the role of the hippocampus in the negative feedback mechanism of the HPA-axis (physiological stress) and perhaps in inhibiting the amygdala (the region of brain responsible for fearful responses to stimuli).[vague] Indeed, suppression of adult neurogenesis can lead to an increased HPA-axis stress response in mildly stressful situations.[19] This is consistent with numerous findings linking stress-relieving activities (learning, exposure to a new yet benign environment, and exercise) to increased levels of neurogenesis, as well as the observation that animals exposed to physiological stress (cortisol) or psychological stress (e.g. isolation) show markedly decreased levels of newborn neurons. Strikingly, the elevation of newborn neurons by antidepressants improves, under chronic stress conditions, the hippocampal control on the stress response (including the activity of the HPA axis and of stress-integrative brain nuclei), then leading to recovery; without newborn neurons, antidepressants are unable to restore the regulation of the stress response and recovery becomes impossible.[20]

 

Effects of sleep reduction

 

One study has linked lack of sleep to a reduction in rodent hippocampal neurogenesis. The proposed mechanism for the observed decrease was increased levels of glucocorticoids. It was shown that two weeks of sleep deprivation acted as a neurogenesis-inhibitor, which was reversed after return of normal sleep and even shifted to a temporary increase in normal cell proliferation.[22] More precisely, when levels of corticosterone are elevated, sleep deprivation inhibits this process. Nonetheless, normal levels of neurogenesis after chronic sleep deprivation return after 2 weeks, with a temporary increase of neurogenesis.

 

 

Effects of exercise

 

Scientists have shown that physical activity in the form of voluntary exercise results in an increase in the number of newborn neurons in the hippocampus of aging mice. The same study demonstrates an enhancement in learning of the "runner" (physically active) mice. Other research demonstrated that exercising mice that did not produce beta-endorphin, a mood-elevating hormone, had no change in neurogenesis. Yet, mice that did produce this hormone, along with exercise, exhibited an increase in newborn cells and their rate of survival.[30] While the association between exercise-mediated neurogenesis and enhancement of learning remains unclear, this study could have strong implications in the fields of aging and/or Alzheimer's disease.

 

Thanks for posting it, Joe.