Abstract

The dentate gyrus is a unique part of the brain because it is known for housing neurogenesis in the adult brain, a process which normally stops early in development. This makes the dentate gyrus an area of great interest, especially in combating neurodegenerative diseases. This area, as well as the entire nervous system, is composed of both neurons, which send and receive signals, and glial cells, which are responsible for supporting neurons. Glial cells including astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, and ependymal cells are present in both the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system, while Schwann Cells are present only in the peripheral nervous system, and microglia are present only in the central nervous system. Apoptosis and autophagy are both processes which degrade and recycle materials. Autophagy degrades materials inside the cell, such as organelles and proteins, and uses lysosomes to carry out the process. Apoptosis consists of degrading old or damaged cells, and is known as programmed cell death. Many proteins affect these processes including Beclin-1, UC3, p62, and the BCL-2 family of proteins. Some studies have used machine learning algorithms in conjunction with simulation and statistical software to study these proteins and the processes they are involved in. Several areas of research remain unfilled, especially in the area of glial cells and the proteins involved in autophagy and apoptosis, as not many machine learning studies have examined this.