Asymmetric golgi repositioning: A prerequisite for appropriate dendrite formation in adult-born neurons

Adult-born granule cells (GCs) are continuously generated in the subgranular zone of the dentate gyrus and become integrated into the dentate circuitry. These adult-born neurons are thought to be important for hippocampal functions such as spatial learning (Clelland et al. 2009). Within 2 weeks of their birth, adult-born neurons develop a granule cell-like morphology with a primary dendrite directed toward the molecular layer. Over the next 2 weeks, the primary dendrite of the adult-born neurons form branches (Espósito et al. 2005; Zhao et al. 2006; Kelsch et al. 2008). After passing through several morphological changes, the adult-born neurons become functionally integrated into the granular cell layer within 4 weeks after their birth. The later stages of morphological development of adult-born dentate GCs (DGCs), including dendritic branching, pruning, synapse formation, and spine morphogenesis have been extensively studied. Much less is known about changes occurring during the first 2 weeks after neurons are generated. Rao et al. (2018) addressed this question in a recent article in The Journal of Neuroscience.