The role of microglia in neurogenesis: exercise and aging as cofactors

Ask your doctor if this paper tells enough about how to make sure new neurons survive and migrate to damaged areas.
http://www.futuremedicine.com/doi/abs/10.2217/fnl.12.71?journalCode=fnl
Vukovic et al. took an innovative approach to determine that microglia play a significant role in the neurogenesis that occurs in the hippocampus following physical exercise. They further demonstrated that signaling through the fractalkine ligand–receptor (CX3CL1–CX3CR1) pathway is a key mechanism through which microglia confer these neuroprotective effects. When either CX3CL1 or CX3CR1 are reduced or dysregulated, neural precursor cell activation is reduced. Physical exercise was shown to be a robust intervention to elevate CX3CL1 levels in the hippocampus of both adult and aged mice. Activated microglia in aged subjects is associated with a neuroinflammatory phenotype, and when they are depleted from neurosphere cultures, neurogenesis is robustly enhanced, suggesting that interventions that reduce microglial activation in aged subjects are of upmost benefit for the sake of preserving critical hippocampal functions such as learning and memory.