A stressful spatial navigation task differentially affected protein expression in the dorsal and ventral subregions.

<p>Expression of mature BDNF was not significantly changed by RAWM exposure in either the dorsal or ventral dentate gyrus (A). In contrast, proBDNF was significantly increased in the dorsal dentate, and significantly decreased in the ventral (C). PSD-95 was unchanged in the dorsal, but significantly increased in the ventral dentate (C). * significantly different from control.</p

Stress most severely affected neurogenesis in the ventral dentate gyrus.

<p>Compared with controls, rats in the CUS group showed decreased proliferation (A), survival (B) and neuronal differentiation (C) in the dentate gyrus. This effect was most pronounced in the ventral, compared to the dorsal, sub-region († indicates significant difference between subregions). * significantly different from control.</p

CUS facilitated long-term spatial memory in the RAWM.

<p>Escape latencies did not differ between control and stressed animals during the acquisition trials (1–12), or on the short-term memory trial (30 min) (A). However, stressed animals took significantly less time to locate the hidden platform on the long-term memory trial (24 hrs). A similar pattern was seen for errors made during search (B). * significantly different from control.</p

CUS and learning were both stressful.

<p>Animals that underwent CUS did not gain weight over the 2-week period of stressor exposure, whereas control animals did (A). Exposure to the CUS paradigm raised corticosterone levels, as did learning in the RAWM (B). Note, however, that learning did not further elevate corticosterone in stressed animals. *significantly different from baseline, † significantly different from Post CUS control.</p