RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Conditional Inhibition of Adult Neurogenesis by Inducible and Targeted Deletion of ERK5 MAP Kinase is Not Associated with Anxiety/Depression-like Behaviors JF eneuro JO eneuro FD Society for Neuroscience SP ENEURO.0014-14.2015 DO 10.1523/ENEURO.0014-14.2015 A1 Junhui Zou A1 Wenbin Wang A1 Yung-Wei Pan A1 Glen M. Abel A1 Daniel R. Storm A1 Zhengui Xia YR 2015 UL http://www.eneuro.org/content/early/2015/04/10/ENEURO.0014-14.2015.abstract AB Although there is evidence that adult neurogenesis contributes to the therapeutic efficacy of chronic antidepressant treatment for anxiety and depression disorders, the role of adult neurogenesis in the onset of depression-related symptoms is still open to question. To address this issue, we utilized a transgenic mouse strain in which adult neurogenesis was specifically and conditionally impaired by Nestin-CreER-driven, inducible knockout (icKO) of erk5 MAP kinase in Nestin-expressing neural progenitors of the adult mouse brain upon tamoxifen administration. Here we report that inhibition of adult neurogenesis by this mechanism is not associated with an increase of the baseline anxiety or depression in non-stressed animals, nor does it increase the animal’s susceptibility to depression after chronic unpredictable stress treatment. Our findings indicate that impaired adult neurogenesis does not lead to anxiety or depression. Significance Statement: New neurons are continuously born in two regions of the adult mammalian brain, the hippocampus and the olfactory bulb, through a process called adult neurogenesis. These adult born neurons are critical for learning and memory, as well as olfaction. Furthermore, an increase in adult neurogenesis likely contributes to the therapeutic efficacy of chronic antidepressants. However, whether impaired adult neurogenesis underlies the etiology of anxiety and depression is still unclear. This study aims to address this question by utilizing a genetic mouse model in which the production of adult born neurons is inducibly and selectively impaired. Our data suggest that impaired adult neurogenesis alone does not contribute to anxiety or depression, nor does it increase depression after chronic stress.