Figure 3

Depletion of adult hippocampal neurogenesis increases predator avoidance but does not modify novelty exploration. When placed in the center of an open-field in the presence of a predator, bigenic-Dox mice, in which neurogenesis was inhibited (in comparison to control bigenic-vehicle mice): (a) retreated more quickly into the protective cylinder (t₁₅=2.12, P=0.05); (b) spent more time inside the cylinder (t₁₅=−2.86, P=0.011). (c) Bigenic-vehicle and bigenic-Dox mice increased exploration of the target zone of the open-field when it contained a novel object (F1,16=41.63, P=0.000008) and showed a comparable level of novelty exploration (F1,16=0.13, P>0.7). ^*P<0.05 in comparison to the control group; ^ooP<0.01, ^oooP<0.001, test phase (object) compared with habituation phase (empty). White bar=bigenic-vehicle mice. Black bar=bigenic-Dox mice.