Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 22, 2026

Studying the Integration of Adult-born Neurons
Published on: March 25, 2011
Activation of adult-born neurons facilitates learning and memory
Mariana Alonso1, Gabriel Lepousez, Wagner Sebastien
1Institut Pasteur, Laboratory for Perception and Memory, Paris, France.
Abstract:
Thousand of local interneurons reach the olfactory bulb of adult rodents every day, but the functional effect of this process remains elusive. By selectively expressing channelrhodopsin in postnatal-born mouse neurons, we found that their activation accelerated difficult odor discrimination learning and improved memory. This amelioration was seen when photoactivation occurred simultaneously with odor presentation, but not when odor delivery lagged by 500 ms. In addition, learning was facilitated when light flashes were delivered at 40 Hz, but not at 10 Hz. Both in vitro and in vivo electrophysiological recordings of mitral cells revealed that 40-Hz stimuli produced enhanced GABAergic inhibition compared with 10-Hz stimulation. Facilitation of learning occurred specifically when photoactivated neurons were generated during adulthood. Taken together, our results demonstrate an immediate causal relationship between the activity of adult-born neurons and the function of the olfactory bulb circuit.
Related Concept Videos
Higher Mental Functions of Brain: Learning and Memory
Neurogenesis and Regeneration of Nervous Tissue
Neuroplasticity
Long-term Potentiation
Long-term Potentiation
Hebbian LTP
LTP can occur when presynaptic neurons...
Cells of the Adaptive Immune Response

