Highly specific and narrowly tuned, mature GCs carry considerable information individually and in response to appropriate inputs are capable of generating a highly

specific sparse code. However, in the absence of familiar inputs to drive mature GCs, the presence of broadly tuned young GCs will contribute to the encoding of memories while at the same time learn to become specialized, high-information neurons in the future. As a result, neurogenesis allows the resolution of novel and familiar memories to be appropriately tailored to balance the immediate (low correlation) and long-term (high information) requirements of memory encoding (Figure 3). In conclusion, we are presenting memory resolution not as a novel function of new neurons but rather as a new perspective selleck kinase inhibitor GDC-0068 clinical trial with which to view the range of proposed functions for neurogenesis

and the DG. Indeed, we do not believe that a memory resolution view conflicts with other functions proposed for adult neurogenesis, such as a role in encoding temporal context or memory consolidation (Aimone et al., 2006, Becker and Wojtowicz, 2007 and Kitamura et al., 2009); rather, we suspect that new neurons potentially affect multiple aspects of memory formation. Such proposed functions may indeed better fit into a memory resolution framework than into the classic pattern separation one. It

is our hope that considering the DG in terms of memory resolution may diffuse the confusion due to the conflicting definitions associated with the “pattern separation” hypothesis and improve our understanding of how neurogenesis affects the DG and memory in the process. We thank Mary Lynn Gage for editorial comments and Jamie Simon for assistance with illustrations. This work was funded in part by the James S. McDonnell Foundation and National Institutes of Health (R01-MH090258). F.H.G. is on the Scientific Advisory Board others of BrainCells Inc. “
“Stem cell therapies are a new medical frontier. Pioneering work using hematopoietic stem cells in therapeutic settings has generated the precedent, and the recent scientific advances in stem cell biology, brain plasticity, genomics, and neuroimaging indicate that transformative changes lie ahead for repairing the CNS. These advances, supported by animal experiments that indicate some CNS damage may be preventable or reversible by stem cell-based approaches, along with the limited self-initiated reparative ability of the CNS and the enormous social burden of neurological disease and injury, make this system a prime target for regenerative therapies. Translation, by which we mean advancing scientific discoveries from the laboratory into practical applications for patient benefit, i.e.