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Dendritic development and plasticity of adult-born neurons in the mouse olfactory bulb

Nature Neuroscience volume 10, pages 444–452 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

The mammalian brain maintains few developmental niches where neurogenesis persists into adulthood. One niche is located in the olfactory system where the olfactory bulb continuously receives functional interneurons. In vivo two-photon microscopy of lentivirus-labeled newborn neurons was used to directly image their development and maintenance in the olfactory bulb. Time-lapse imaging of newborn neurons over several days showed that dendritic formation is highly dynamic with distinct differences between spiny neurons and non-spiny neurons. Once incorporated into the network, adult-born neurons maintain significant levels of structural dynamics. This structural plasticity is local, cumulative and sustained in neurons several months after their integration. Thus, I provide a new experimental system for directly studying the pool of regenerating neurons in the intact mammalian brain and suggest that regenerating neurons form a cellular substrate for continuous wiring plasticity in the olfactory bulb.

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Figure 1: Experimental model for in vivo imaging of adult-born neurons.
Figure 2: Large scale changes of newborn PGN dendrites during development.
Figure 3: Dendrites of spiny PGNs are stable but their spines are dynamic.
Figure 4: Dendritic dynamics of adult-born granule cells during development.
Figure 5: Dendritic morphology of adult-born neurons at different durations after virus injection.
Figure 6: Adult-born neurons remain structurally dynamic after incorporation into the network (40–47 d.p.i.).
Figure 7: Stable PGNs and granule cells remain structurally dynamic at 90 d.p.i.
Figure 8: Sensory deprivation does not significantly alter dendritic morphology and dynamics of newborn PGNs during early stages of development.

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Acknowledgements

I thank Y. Finelt for technical help and P. Mombaerts for the M71-GFP mice. I thank I. Segev, Y. Yarom, S. Wagner, I. Davison and members of my lab for critically reading early versions of the manuscript. Special thanks to S. Wagner for the intracellular labeling of PGNs. A.M. is supported by a Career Development Award from the International Human Frontier Science Program Organization and by ISF grant # 313–05.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurobiology, Institue for Life Sciences and the Interdisciplinary Center for Neural Computation, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Edmond J. Safra Campus, Givat Ram, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel

    Adi Mizrahi

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  1. Adi Mizrahi
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Correspondence to Adi Mizrahi.

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Supplementary information

Supplementary Fig. 1

GFP expressing cells in the OB are neurons, not glia. (PDF 922 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 2

Comparison of labeling patterns of GFP and BrdU. (PDF 1117 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 3

PGN arrival to the glomerular layer decreases with increasing durations after virus injection. (PDF 698 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 4

Morphology of randomly selected PGNs. (PDF 225 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 5

In vivo imaging of adult born PGNs 45 days apart. (PDF 637 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 6

Examples of adult-born PGNs during early development. (PDF 215 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 7

Comparison between in vivo and fixed tissue. (PDF 187 kb)

Supplementary Video 1 (AVI 8230 kb)

Supplementary Video 2 (AVI 1834 kb)

Supplementary Video 3 (AVI 6072 kb)

Supplementary Methods (DOC 40 kb)

Supplementary Text (DOC 36 kb)

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Mizrahi, A. Dendritic development and plasticity of adult-born neurons in the mouse olfactory bulb. Nat Neurosci 10, 444–452 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1875

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