Validation and use of a computer-assisted counting procedure to quantify BrdU-labeled proliferating cells in the early postnatal mouse hippocampus.

The dentate gyrus is one of the few brain regions that show proliferation of neuronal precursors postnatally and in adult life. Proliferation in the dentate gyrus has been shown to be influenced by exercise, stress and drugs such as antidepressants. Traditionally, proliferation studies rely on the time consuming and subjective manual count of labeled cells.