Suppression of adult neurogenesis impairs population coding of similar contexts in hippocampal CA3 region

Different places may share common features, but are coded by distinct populations of CA3 neurons in the hippocampus. Here we show that chemical or genetic suppression of adult neurogenesis in the hippocampus impairs this population-based coding of similar (but not dissimilar) contexts. These data provide a neural basis for impaired spatial discrimination following ablation of adult neurogenesis, and support the proposal that adult neurogenesis regulates the efficiency of a pattern separation process in the hippocampus.