Rhodes Justin S, van Praag Henriette, Jeffrey Susan, Girard Isabelle, Mitchell Gordon S, Garland Theodore, Gage Fred H
Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin at Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
Behav Neurosci. 2003 Oct;117(5):1006-16. doi: 10.1037/0735-7044.117.5.1006.
The hippocampus is important for the acquisition of new memories. It is also one of the few regions in the adult mammalian brain that can generate new nerve cells. The authors tested the hypothesis that voluntary exercise increases neurogenesis and enhances spatial learning in mice selectively bred for high levels of wheel running (S mice). Female S mice and outbred control (C) mice were housed with and without running wheels for 40 days. 5-Bromodeoxyuridine was used to label dividing cells. The Morris water maze was used to measure spatial learning. C runners showed a strong positive correlation between running distance and new cell number, as well as improved learning. In S runners, neurogenesis increased to high levels that reached a plateau, but no improvement in learning occurred. This is the first evidence that neurogenesis can occur without learning enhancement. The authors propose an alternative function of neurogenesis in the control of motor behavior.
海马体对于新记忆的形成很重要。它也是成年哺乳动物大脑中少数能够产生新神经细胞的区域之一。作者测试了这样一个假设：自愿运动可增加神经发生并增强在为高水平转轮跑步而选择性培育的小鼠（S小鼠）中的空间学习能力。将雌性S小鼠和远交对照（C）小鼠分别饲养在有和没有转轮的环境中40天。使用5-溴脱氧尿苷标记分裂细胞。使用莫里斯水迷宫来测量空间学习能力。C组跑步小鼠的跑步距离与新细胞数量之间呈现出强烈的正相关，同时学习能力也有所提高。在S组跑步小鼠中，神经发生增加到高水平并达到稳定状态，但学习能力并未改善。这是神经发生可以在不增强学习能力的情况下发生的首个证据。作者提出了神经发生在运动行为控制中的另一种功能。
