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Please can you elaborate on this? Thanks!
by JPLeRouzic 8y ago
Please can you elaborate on this?
Thanks!
- superkuh 8y agoIn the human brain the hippocampus is actually 2 hippocampuses, one for each hemisphere. They are a little curled structures like two 'C' facing each other with the top of one nested in the hollow of the other. Where the end of one C nests inside the other there's a region called the dentate gyrus. In the dentate gyrus there are small granular cells. Beneath this layer are stem cell capable of becoming neurons. Most of the activty of the dentate gyrus birthing new neurons is in during early development and when a baby. During these times there's a stream neurons from the sub-granular zone (beneath the granular cells in the dentate gyrus in the hippocampus). The perceptions of the external environment and the internal physiological state modulate the rate of survival of these new neurons. It's kind of open in the sub-granular zone and the stem cells are able to move freely and assume multiple intermediate cell architectures before finally becoming dentate granule neurons that migrate to and integrate with the existing hippocampal circuitry along the other parts of the two nesting C shapes. They're even somewhat glia-like during part of this intermediate development. It's a complex process that's easy to interrupt. Most of the cells die and do not become integrated into the hippocampus. So, to get to and restate the question: how do neuroactive chemicals and things like ECT potentially alter the rate of new sub-granular zone stem cells? If the current development state of the cell has receptors or the glia around it are effected by chemicals that bind to those receptors it's easy to see how things could be thrown off. It is not necessarily a good thing to increase the rate of cell survival of new neurons in the adult. The rate of new neurons has important effects on the ability of the neuronal circuits in the rest of the hippocampus (involving CA1, CA3, etc) to do the types of memory encoding tasks researchers call pattern separation and pattern completion. So while there are indeed chemical and electrophysiological ways to increase the the survival rate of new neurons there should be reasons to believe the balance needed to be adjusted up. Just as a throwaway, THC is one of the chemical compounds found to increase new dentate granual neuron survival and integration.
- JPLeRouzic 8y agoImpressive answer! Many thanks.
- kick_in_the_dor 8y agoFascinating! Do you have any sources for those interested in reading more about these theories of neuronal growth and the process of pattern separation/pattern completion in the Hippocampus?
- SubiculumCode 8y agoI just wanted to pipe in and say that parent is knowledgeable upon this subject.
- superkuh 8y agoYes, some. http://erewhon.superkuh.com/library/Neuroscience/Hippocampal%20Formation/ http://erewhon.superkuh.com/library/Neuroscience/Hippocampal...
- kick_in_the_dor 8y agoThank you!
- jonathanleane 8y agoTHC or CBD?