Cited by 1,292Neurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanismsNeuroscience and Neuropharmacology ResearchMemory and Neural Mechanisms

Enhanced synaptic plasticity in newly generated granule cells of the adult hippocampus

Schmidt-Hieber, Christoph, Jonas, Peter, Bischofberger, Josef·2004·Nature

Abstract

Neural stem cells in various regions of the vertebrate brain continuously generate neurons throughout life. In the mammalian hippocampus, a region important for spatial and episodic memory, thousands of new granule cells are produced per day, with the exact number depending on environmental conditions and physical exercise. The survival of these neurons is improved by learning and conversely learning may be promoted by neurogenesis. Although it has been suggested that newly generated neurons may have specific properties to facilitate learning, the cellular and synaptic mechanisms of plasticity in these neurons are largely unknown. Here we show that young granule cells in the adult hippocampus differ substantially from mature granule cells in both active and passive membrane properties. In young neurons, T-type Ca2+ channels can generate isolated Ca2+ spikes and boost fast Na+ action potentials, contributing to the induction of synaptic plasticity. Associative long-term potentiation can be induced more easily in young neurons than in mature neurons under identical conditions. Thus, newly generated neurons express unique mechanisms to facilitate synaptic plasticity, which may be important for the formation of new memories.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1038/nature02553

Cites

30 of 30 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Adult-generated granule neurons display enhanced synaptic plasticity with a lower threshold for LTP induction, which disappears as they reach full maturity.

    “Adult-generated granule neurons also display other unusual electrophysiological properties that disappear as they reach full maturity, including enhanced synaptic plasticity with a lower threshold for LTP induction (Ge et al., 2007; Schmidt-Hieber et al., 2004).”

    From Adult neurogenesis, glia, and the extracellular matrix (2019) · cites this paper as Schmidt-Hieber et al., 2004

  • An aberrant increase in the generation of newborn neurons enhances plasticity and excitability.

    “In fact, an aberrant increase in the generation of newborn neurons was shown to enhance plasticity and excitability,32”
  • Immature granule cells have a lower threshold for long-term potentiation induction.

    “Indeed, immature granule cells are particularly suited to participate in the learning process as they have a lower threshold for LTP induction (Schmidt-Hieber et al., 2004) and demonstrate enhanced LTP compared to surrounding mature granule cells (Lee S.W. et al., 2012).”

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Schmidt-Hieber, C., Jonas, P., & Bischofberger, J.
Affiliations
University of Freiburg (DE)
Corresponding author
Bischofberger, Josef
Venue
Nature
Published
2004-04-25
Volume
429
Issue
6988
Pages
184-187
ISSN
  • 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
  • 1476-4687
OpenAlex
W2063466545
Cited by
1,292
References
30
Citations by year
2026: 19 · 2025: 38 · 2024: 40 · 2023: 38 · 2022: 48 · 2021: 55 · 2020: 50 · 2019: 58 · 2018: 60 · 2017: 69 · 2016: 71 · 2015: 74 · 2014: 66 · 2013: 71 · 2012: 79
FWCI
14.10
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Nature (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
  • FreiDok plus (Universitätsbibliothek Freiburg) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
  • National Institutes of Health
  • Fogarty International Center
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Developmental Neuroscience › Neurogenesis and neuroplasticity mechanisms
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neuroscience and Neuropharmacology Research
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory and Neural Mechanisms
Keywords
adult hippocampal neurogenesis, granule cells, synaptic plasticity, long-term potentiation, T-type calcium channels, calcium spikes, neuronal maturation, membrane properties, learning and memory
MeSH terms
Action Potentials, Animals, Calcium, Cell Differentiation, Dendrites, Hippocampus, Male, Memory, Neuronal Plasticity, Sodium, Synapses, Cellular Senescence, Rats, Wistar, Long-Term Potentiation, Calcium Channels, T-Type, Rats, In Vitro Techniques

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review