New neurons are generated in the hippocampal dentate gyrus from early development through adulthood. Progenitor cells and immature granule cells in the subgranular zone are responsive to changes in their environment; and indeed, a large body of research indicates that neuronal interactions and the dentate gyrus milieu regulates granule cell proliferation, maturation, and integration. Following traumatic brain injury (TBI), these interactions are dramatically altered. In addition to cell losses from injury and neurotransmitter dysfunction, patients often show electroencephalographic evidence of cortical spreading depolarizations and seizure activity after TBI. Furthermore, treatment for TBI often involves interventions that alter hippocampal function such as sedative medications, neuromodulating agents, and anti-epileptic drugs. Here, we review hippocampal changes after TBI and how they impact the coordinated process of granule cell adult neurogenesis. We also discuss clinical TBI treatments that have the potential to alter neurogenesis. A thorough understanding of the impact that TBI has on neurogenesis will ultimately be needed to begin to design novel therapeutics to promote recovery.
Introduction
Adult neurogenesis in the hippocampal dentate gyrus is widespread in mammals. Generation of dentate granule cells occurs late in embryonic development, continues after birth, and persists into old age in most mammals examined (Amrein et al., 2011; Amrein, 2015; Ngwenya et al., 2015). Studies in rodents indicate that adult generated granule cells play a role in hippocampal dependent learning (Nakashiba et al., 2012; Danielson et al., 2016; Johnston et al., 2016). Whether neurogenesis continues into old age in humans remains controversial (Danzer, 2018a), with studies finding evidence for (Eriksson et al., 1998; Spalding et al., 2013; Boldrini et al., 2018) and against ongoing neurogenesis (Sorrells et al., 2018). Yet there is general agreement that dentate neurogenesis occurs in childhood and continues throughout young adulthood in humans, and that newly-generated neurons are poised to contribute to hippocampal function. At a minimum, therefore, traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) occurring during adolescence have the potential to disrupt this important process.
The generation, maturation, and integration of new neurons is critical for hippocampal function. This tightly regulated process, however, is easily disrupted by pathological events, such as TBI. In this review, we discuss the coordinated process of adult neurogenesis in the hippocampal subgranular zone (SGZ) and the impact that TBI and TBI treatments have on this process. An understanding of the regulation and dysregulation of neurogenesis is important for determining whether and how therapeutic interventions targeted at adult neurogenesis are useful for TBI treatment.
Neurogenesis Is a Complex, Tightly-Regulated Process
Adult neurogenesis is characterized by multiple “control” points. The number of daughter cells produced by neural stem cells (NSC) located in the SGZ of the dentate gyrus can be modulated by the rate of cell proliferation and survival, while factors regulating fate specification control whether and how the new cells become neurons and integrate into the hippocampal circuitry (see recent review by Song et al., 2016). These control points can be regulated by signals released into the extracellular milieu by both neuronal and non-neuronal cells (Alenina and Klempin, 2015; Egeland et al., 2015), neurotrophic and transcription factors (Faigle and Song, 2013; Goncalves et al., 2016), neuroinflammatory mediators (Belarbi and Rosi, 2013), metabolic and hormonal changes (Cavallucci et al., 2016; Larson, 2018), and direct synaptic input from both glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons (Chancey et al., 2014; Alvarez et al., 2016; Song et al., 2016; Yeh et al., 2018). For additional information, the readers are referred to the excellent reviews cited for each mechanism, and the schematic in Figure 1. Critically, all of these factors can be disrupted by TBI, creating an environment in which immature granule cells and granule cell progenitors no longer receive the proper cues to guide their development.
Figure 1. Generation and integration of adult-born granule cells is a coordinated process that is impacted by TBI. At each stage of adult neurogenesis, the normal process (blue) has potential to be altered by TBI (orange). (1) Quiescent radial neural stem cells (NSCs) in the subgranular zone (SGZ) can be depleted by frequent activation early in life, such as by TBI-induced seizures, leading to deficiencies with age. (2) TBI and its effects, including spreading depolarizations and seizures, cause an increase in proliferation of progenitor cells. (3) Newly-generated neurons migrate from the SGZ to the granule cell layer (GCL), and after TBI abnormal hilar migration is apparent. (4) Parvalbumin interneurons and (5) mossy hilar neurons are susceptible to cell death after TBI. Reduction in their numbers results in decreased GABAergic and glutamatergic (respectively) input to the newly-generated neurons. Newly-generated neurons show additional signs of aberrant neurogenesis such as abnormal connectivity (6), hyperexcitability (7) and inappropriate integration and dendritic maturity (8) which can be caused by changes in the environmental milieu.
[…]
Continue —> Frontiers | Impact of Traumatic Brain Injury on Neurogenesis | Neuroscience