Abstract:
It is a distinctive feature of the hippocampus of the mammalian brain to generate new neurons throughout life. Neuronal progenitor cells pass through several steps of maturation until they reach adulthood and full functionality. In a mouse model six developmental stages have been defined which represent consecutive phases of adult neurogenesis. The early stages are highly proliferative, then the cells become postmitotic. Using the thymidine substitute BrdU as a marker for proliferating cells permits to detect the number of cells in every stage at consecutive times. The resulting test series indicate the dynamics of neuronal development.
In the study we presented here we examine the reliability of the observed cell counts, discussing the experimental design, which has been used and especially attending the problems of the BrdU labeling method. Subsequently we establish a simple model for adult neurogenesis based on a system of linear ordinary differential equations. In a second approach we apply a discrete model, based on Leslie matrices. We analyze different scenarios of neuronal development to find out which one fits the data best and consequently might describe the real situation.