The Adult Brain Makes New Neurons, and Effortful Learning Keeps Them Alive

You will need to DEMAND your doctor comes up with a protocol that will keep those new neurons alive. This is the minimum your doctor needs to do for you.
http://cdp.sagepub.com/content/23/5/311.abstract?

1. Tracey J. Shors

1. Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, and W. M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience, Rutgers University

1. Tracey J. Shors, Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Rutgers University, 152 Frelinghuysen Rd., Piscataway, NJ 08854-8020 E-mail: shors@rutgers.edu

Abstract

The brain continues to produce new neurons throughout life. For instance, the hippocampus (a brain region necessary for select learning processes) produces thousands of new neurons each day. However, a significant number of them die and do so within just a few weeks of their birth. Laboratory animals that are trained to learn a new skill between one and two weeks after the new cells are generated retain most cells that would have otherwise died. The types of skills that keep new cells alive are not limited to those that depend on the hippocampus but rather include those that are effortful to learn, requiring more training trials or time spent training. Importantly, training alone is not sufficient to increase cell survival; animals that are trained but do not learn do not retain more cells than animals that are not trained. Therefore, learning increases the survival of newly generated cells in the hippocampus as long as the learning experience is new, effortful, and successful. Once rescued, the vast majority of these cells differentiate into neurons, thereby forming synapses and generating action potentials as they become incorporated into the existing architecture and functional circuitry of the adult brain.