Development of the hippocampus during childhood and adolescence
Type de matériel :
47
The hippocampus is known to be involved in memory. Although this structure has been studied extensively in adults, the development of the hippocampus during childhood and adolescence remains little explored. This review therefore aims to shed light on the current knowledge available on the maturation of the hippocampus and how this is linked to the development of memory abilities during both childhood and adolescence. Although the total volume of the hippocampus is similar to adults by the age of four, a maturation of the different hippocampal subfields is observed during childhood and adolescence. Indeed, several studies, mostly conducted on animals, report a protracted maturation of the hippocampal subfield CA3 and the dentate gyrus. The changes are associated with an improvement of memory abilities among children. Nevertheless, the development of the hippocampus could be impacted by several factors such as the environment, gender, and exposure to stressful events. Hence, the development of pathologies such as pediatric post-traumatic stress disorder could be associated with a disturbance of the protracted maturation of the hippocampus.
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