, 2010) and overgeneralized autobiographical memory is often associated with depression and PTSD (Sumner et al., 2010). Deficits in pattern separation may therefore represent a circuit-based endophenotype for these different disorders. The finding that increasing adult hippocampal neurogenesis is sufficient to improve pattern separation suggests that neurogenesis may be harnessed to treat disorders with pattern separation deficits (Sahay et al., 2011) Interestingly, naturalistic interventions such as voluntary exercise have been shown to improve pattern separation in rodents (Creer et al., 2010). It is possible that increased adult hippocampal neurogenesis mediates some of the beneficial

effects of exercise on pattern separation. Chronic antidepressant treatments, which are known to stimulate adult hippocampal neurogenesis, may also exert some of their behavioral effects through enhancing pattern selleck compound separation; however this is yet to be demonstrated. Unraveling the molecular mechanisms underlying the plasticity of neural stem cells and adult-born neurons and identification of proneurogenic small molecules

(Pieper et al., 2010 and Wurdak et al., 2010) will BGB324 clinical trial catalyze the development of novel strategies to treat pattern separation deficits. Olfaction is at the heart of mammalian life, playing critical and often necessary roles in mother-infant attachment, kin recognition, mate selection and recognition, food selection, predator avoidance, and homing. Each of these basic functions can include prolonged changes in internal state and the external chemical environment and often require remarkably precise separation

of highly tuclazepam overlapping odorant stimulus patterns. Enhanced survival of newly generated olfactory bulb interneurons due to a springtime eruption of novel environmental odors could coincide with the need for enhanced pattern separation and the perceptual acuity necessary for navigating this rich olfactory world. In fact, prolonged enrichment of the odor environment enhances the survival (Rochefort et al., 2002) of adult-generated olfactory bulb interneurons and odor perceptual learning and memory (Mandairon and Linster, 2009). Together, these findings suggest that adult neurogenesis in the OB, as in the DG, may provide a mechanism for adapting to relatively stable changes in the environment, allowing for shifts in olfactory pattern separation and ultimately olfactory acuity. Perturbed experience dependent regulation of olfactory bulb neurogenesis may result in unlimited pattern separation, which could come at the expense of pattern completion and perceptual stability. Given the ephemeral nature of odors, excessive pattern separation could lead to an overrepresentation of feature representation in slightly shifting stimuli, with each successive presentation of even the same stimulus being perceived as unique.