Neurons Generated in the Adult Brain Are Recruited into Functional Circuits

Adult canaries, Serinus canarius, received injections of 3H-labeled thymidine, a marker of DNA synthesis. Thirty days after the last injection, intracellular potentials were recorded from neurons in the nucleus hyperstriatum ventralis pars caudalis, a vocal control nucleus in the telencephalon; these same cells were then injected with horseradish peroxidase. Of the 74 neurons labeled with horseradish peroxidase that were recovered, the nuclei of seven were radioactively labeled. Four of these seven neurons had responded to auditory stimuli. These double-labeled neurons were apparently generated during or after the 3H-labeled thymidine treatment (during adulthood) and subsequently incorporated into functional neural circuits.