[Roles of DISC1-interacting protein Girdin in postnatal development and adult neurogenesis in the dentate gyrus]

Abstract

The dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus is a unique brain region in that most of its neurons are formed postnatally, and neurogenesis persists throughout life. Adult neurogenesis in the DG is involved in a variety of physiological and pathological processes such as learning, memory, and neurodegenerative diseases, making the research field attractive to a number of developmental biologists, neuroscientists, and medical scientists. We found that mice lacking the expression of an actin-binding protein, Girdin, have severe defects in DG development. Girdin interacts with Disrupted-In-Schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) in the neuroblasts, the loss of which causes mismigration and mispositioning of newborn dentate granule cells. It has been uncovered that the Girdin/DISC1 protein complex has a critical role not only in DG development but also in adult neurogenesis in the DG. In this review, we describe how we studied the function of Girdin and DISC1 in DG development and future perspectives on neurogenesis research.