Extent and activity of adult hippocampal neurogenesis.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review synthesizing preclinical and human literature without systematic search or primary data
PubMed 41357830 · doi:10.3389/fnins.2025.1709208
What was done
The authors reviewed the literature on adult hippocampal neurogenesis, examining its persistence in humans, its role in learning, memory, and emotional regulation, and how the proliferation and functional activity of newborn neurons contribute to hippocampal neural circuitry.
What was found
The abstract reports a qualitative narrative synthesis with no quantitative numbers or statistics. It reports that hippocampal neurogenesis persists in humans, while olfactory neurogenesis is diminished relative to other mammals. Reductions in neurogenesis are linked to neurodegenerative disease, age-associated cognitive decline, and chronic stress. Antidepressants stimulate neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus, and current evidence suggests functional outcomes depend on the activity of newborn neurons, not solely the extent of cell proliferation.
Why it matters
This synthesis emphasizes that evaluating both cell proliferation and the circuit-level activity of newborn neurons is essential to understand their therapeutic relevance in psychiatric disorders and cognitive decline.
Limits
This is a narrative review without a systematic search protocol or quantitative pooling. The abstract provides no sample sizes, numerical metrics, or primary data, and conclusions rely heavily on extrapolating rodent findings to human physiology.
Cited by
- supports The dentate gyrus of the hippocampus is an area of the brain capable of adult neurogenesis.