Hoonkyo Suh Laboratory

Research

The long-term goal of our project is to map neural circuits in order to understand how adult neurogenesis-induced neural circuits account for cognition and mental stability, and how dysfunctions of the same neural circuits underlie neurological, affective, addictive and psychiatric diseases. The persistent production and incorporation of new granule cells into the hippocampal circuitry (neurogenesis) has been implicated in the hippocampal function and dysfunction. However, it remains enigmatic how homogeneous neuronal population of newly generated GCs can play such a diverse role that is phenotypically and mechanistically different from each other. We hypothesize that the function of newly generated granule cells is specified by neural circuits in which new granule cells are making connections with distinct brain input neurons, and that different disorders disrupt sub-regions of neural circuits that new granule cells are involvedin. Using kainic acid (KA)-induced epileptogenic mouse model, we will test this hypothesis by mapping neural circuits of adult-born new granule cells in the normal and epileptogenic mice. To directly address this issue, we have recently developed a rabies virus-mediated retrograde tracing system that allows us to trace the neurons presynaptic to new granule cells in the adult mouse hippocampus. Using this unique retrograde tracing method, we will map the normal and aberrant epileptogenic neural circuits of new granule cells.

Selected Publications

Basu S, Suh H. (2020) Role of Hippocampal Neurogenesis in Alcohol Withdrawal Seizures. Brain Plast. 6(1):27-39. PMID: 33680844; PMCID: PMC7903005

Zhang H, Kim Y, Ro EJ, Ho C, Lee D, Trapp BD, Suh H. (2020) Hippocampal Neurogenesis and Neural Circuit Formation in a Cuprizone-Induced Multiple Sclerosis Mouse Model. J Neurosci. 40(2):447-458. PMID: 31719166; PMCID: PMC6948946

Lee D, Krishnan B, Zhang H, Park HR, Ro EJ, Jung YN, Suh H. (2019) Activity of hippocampal adult-born neurons regulates alcohol withdrawal seizures. JCI Insight. 4(19). pii: 128770. PMID: 31578307; PMCID: PMC6795406

Skelton PD, Frazel PW, Lee D, Suh H, Luikart BW. (2019) Pten loss results in inappropriate excitatory connectivity. Mol Psychiatry 24(11):1627-1640. PMID: 30967683; PMCID: PMC6785382

Zhou QG, Nemes AD, Lee D, Ro EJ, Zhang J, Nowacki AS, Dymecki SM, Najm IM, Suh H. (2019) Chemogenetic silencing of hippocampal neurons suppresses epileptic neural circuits. J Clin Invest. 129(1):310-323. PMID: 30507615; PMCID: PMC6307945

Suh H, Zhou QG, Fernandez-Carasa I, Clemenson GD Jr, Pons-Espinal M, Ro EJ, Marti M, Raya A, Gage FH, Consiglio A. (2018) Long-Term Labeling of Hippocampal Neural Stem Cells by a Lentiviral Vector. Front Mol Neurosci. 11:415. PMID: 30498432; PMCID: PMC6249367

Nemes AD, Ayasoufi K, Ying Z, Zhou QG, Suh H, Najm IM. (2017) Growth Associated Protein 43 (GAP-43) as a Novel Target for the Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention of Epileptogenesis. Sci Rep. 7(1):17702. PMID: 29255203; PMCID: PMC5735087

Zhou QG, Liu MY, Lee HW, Ishikawa F, Devkota S, Shen XR, Jin X, Wu HY, Liu Z, Liu X, Jin X, Zhou HH, Ro EJ, Zhang J, Zhang Y, Lin YH, Suh H, Zhu DY. (2017) Hippocampal TERT Regulates Spatial Memory Formation through Modulation of Neural Development. Stem Cell Reports 9(2):543-556. PMID: 28757168; PMCID: PMC5550029

Hou H, Fan Q, He W, Suh H, Hu X, Yan R. (2017) BACE1 Deficiency Causes Abnormal Neuronal Clustering in the Dentate Gyrus. Stem Cell Reports 9(1):217-230. PMID: 28669600; PMCID: PMC5511112

Zhou QG, Lee D, Ro EJ, Suh H. (2016) Regional-specific effect of fluoxetine on rapidly dividing progenitors along the dorsoventral axis of the hippocampus. Sci Rep. 6:35572. PMID: 27759049; PMCID: PMC5069667

Zhou QG, Wu HY, Zhou H, Liu MY, Lee HW, Liu X, Devkota S, Ro EJ, Zhu DY, Suh H. (2016) Reactivation of Tert in the medial prefrontal cortex and hippocampus rescues aggression and depression of Tert(-/-) mice. Transl Psychiatry 6(6):e836. PMID: 27300262; PMCID: PMC4931604

Golub HM, Zhou QG, Zucker H, McMullen MR, Kokiko-Cochran ON, Ro EJ, Nagy LE, Suh H. (2015) Chronic Alcohol Exposure is Associated with Decreased Neurogenesis, Aberrant Integration of Newborn Neurons, and Cognitive Dysfunction in Female Mice. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 39(10):1967-77. PMID: 26365148; PMCID: PMC4592440

Zhu LJ, Liu MY, Li H, Liu X, Chen C, Han Z, Wu HY, Jing X, Zhou HH, Suh H, Zhu DY, Zhou QG. (2014) The different roles of glucocorticoids in the hippocampus and hypothalamus in chronic stress-induced HPA axis hyperactivity. PLoS One 9(5):e97689. PMID: 24831808; PMCID: PMC4022669

Vivar C#, Potter MC#, Choi J, Lee JY, Stringer TP, Callaway EM, Gage FH, Suh H, van Praag H. (2012) Monosynaptic inputs to new neurons in the dentate gyrus. Nat Commun. 3:1107. PMID: 23033083; PMCID: PMC4603575

Zhu Q, Pao GM, Huynh AM, Suh H, Tonnu N, Nederlof PM, Gage FH, Verma IM. (2011) BRCA1 tumour suppression occurs via heterochromatin-mediated silencing. Nature 477(7363):179-84. PMID: 21901007; PMCID: PMC3240576

Suh H, Deng W, Gage FH. (2009) Signaling in adult neurogenesis. Annu Rev Cell Dev Biol. 25:253-75. PMID: 19575663

Suh H, Consiglio A, Ray J, Sawai T, D'Amour KA, Gage FH. (2007) In vivo fate analysis reveals the multipotent and self-renewal capacities of Sox2+ neural stem cells in the adult hippocampus. Cell Stem Cell 1(5):515-28. PMID: 18371391; PMCID: PMC2185820