A functional role for adult hippocampal neurogenesis in spatial pattern separation

CD Clelland, M Choi, C Romberg, GD Clemenson Jr… - Science, 2009 - science.org
CD Clelland, M Choi, C Romberg, GD Clemenson Jr, A Fragniere, P Tyers, S Jessberger
Science, 2009science.org
The dentate gyrus (DG) of the mammalian hippocampus is hypothesized to mediate pattern
separation—the formation of distinct and orthogonal representations of mnemonic
information—and also undergoes neurogenesis throughout life. How neurogenesis
contributes to hippocampal function is largely unknown. Using adult mice in which
hippocampal neurogenesis was ablated, we found specific impairments in spatial
discrimination with two behavioral assays:(i) a spatial navigation radial arm maze task and …
The dentate gyrus (DG) of the mammalian hippocampus is hypothesized to mediate pattern separation—the formation of distinct and orthogonal representations of mnemonic information—and also undergoes neurogenesis throughout life. How neurogenesis contributes to hippocampal function is largely unknown. Using adult mice in which hippocampal neurogenesis was ablated, we found specific impairments in spatial discrimination with two behavioral assays: (i) a spatial navigation radial arm maze task and (ii) a spatial, but non-navigable, task in the mouse touch screen. Mice with ablated neurogenesis were impaired when stimuli were presented with little spatial separation, but not when stimuli were more widely separated in space. Thus, newborn neurons may be necessary for normal pattern separation function in the DG of adult mice.
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