During adult neurogenesis in the olfactory bulb, microglia regulate the elimination (pruning), formation, and maintenance of synapses on newborn neurons, contributing to the functional integrity of the olfactory bulb circuitry.
Adult neurogenesis, although happening at a slow rate in the adult brain, plays an important role in learning and memory and has the ability to powerfully modulate large scale neural networks.
Exposing rats to acute stress increased the generation of new neurons in a subregion of the hippocampus, and improved the animals' performance in a memory task two weeks later.
Control of neural stem cells by reactive oxygen species (ROS) provides a link between systemic shifts in oxygen tension and neuronal regeneration, and suggests an evolutionary driving force for the inherent ability of newts to regenerate their brain cells.
3-10 weeks old adult-born granule cells provide two temporally overlapping but functionally distinct neuronal cell populations by being sensitive to distinct aspects of their inputs.
Adult-born neurons in the olfactory bulb that develop in the absence of microglia have a higher density of small spines but weaker excitatory inputs and reduced responses to sensory stimuli.