Modelling hippocampal neurogenesis across the lifespan in seven species

TL;DR

This study models how neurogenesis in the hippocampus declines with age across seven species, revealing that neurogenesis decreases exponentially and correlates with species longevity, with limited new neuron addition in later life.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of hippocampal neurogenesis decline across multiple species using exponential models, highlighting the relationship with longevity.

Findings

Neurogenesis decline fits exponential models best.

Rate of decline correlates with species longevity (r=0.769).

Few new cells are added after middle age in these species.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to estimate the number of new cells and neurons added to the dentate gyrus across the lifespan, and to compare the rate of age-associated decline in neurogenesis across species. Data from mice (Mus musculus), rats (Rattus norvegicus), lesser hedgehog tenrecs (Echinops telfairi), macaques (Macaca mulatta), marmosets (Callithrix jacchus), tree shrews (Tupaia belangeri), and humans (Homo sapiens) were extracted from twenty one data sets published in fourteen different papers. ANOVA, exponential, Weibull, and power models were fit to the data to determine which best described the relationship between age and neurogenesis. Exponential models provided a suitable fit and were used to estimate the relevant parameters. The rate of decrease of neurogenesis correlated with species longevity r = 0.769, p = 0.043), but not body mass or basal metabolic rate. Of all the cells added postnatally to the mouse dentate gyrus, only 8.5% (95% CI = 1.0% to 14.7%) of these will be added after middle age. In addition, only 5.7% (95% CI = 0.7% to 9.9%) of the existing cell population turns over from middle age onwards. Thus, relatively few new cells are added for much of an animal's life, and only a proportion of these will mature into functional neurons.