The effects of running and of inhibiting adult neurogenesis on learning and memory in rats

Wojtowicz J.M., Askew, M.L., Winocur G.,

Abstract:

The presence of ongoing adult neurogenesis within the highly plastic hippocampal circuitry poses questions as to the relevance of new neurons to learning and memory. Correlational and causal evidence suggests that some, but not all hippocampal, tasks involve the new neurons. The evidence with regard to spatial learning in the water maze, one of the most commonly used hippocampal tasks, is contradictory. We have addressed this issue using this task and another standard hippocampal task, contextual fear conditioning.. Additionally, we considered control caged rats expressing normal levels of neurogenesis in comparison to rats with either enhanced (running) or reduced (irradiation) levels of neurogenesis. The results indicate that reduced neurogenesis had little effect on spatial learning but severely impaired contextual fear conditioning. It was suggested that compensatory mechanisms within the hippocampus may have contributed selectively to sparing of spatial function. Performance on both tasks was unrelated to running behaviour. The results improve our understanding of the functional role of adult neurogenesis in behaving animals.

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