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To investigate the effect of forced running in motor-driven wheel on neurogenesis in the hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG)of adult rats, 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine (BrdU), a thymidine analog was applied to mark cell proliferation. Neuroepthelial stem cellprotein (nestin) expression was used to identify neural stem/precursor cells. The BrdU- and nestin-positive cells were examined byimmunohistochemical technique. The ability of learning was evaluated by Y-maze test to explore the functional role of the newborn cellsin the DG after forced running. It was found that the number of BrdU- and nestin-positive cells in the DG in running groups wassignificantly increased compared to that in the control group (P<0.05). The effect of forced running on neurogenesis was intensitydependent.In addition, an improvement of learning ability in Y-maze test was observed after forced running. These findings suggest thatforced running in motor-driven wheel could enhance neurogenesis in the hippocampal DG of adult rats and improve learning ability.