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Related Experiment Videos

A role for prefrontal cortex in memory storage for trace fear conditioning.

Jason D Runyan1, Anthony N Moore, Pramod K Dash

  • 1The Vivian L. Smith Center for Neurologic Research and the Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, The University of Texas Medical School, Houston, Texas 77225, USA.

The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience
|February 13, 2004
PubMed
Summary

The medial prefrontal cortex is crucial for storing memories of temporally separated events. Inhibiting the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk) pathway in this region impairs memory retention and context relevancy in trace fear conditioning.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Behavioral Neuroscience
  • Molecular Biology

Background:

  • The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is implicated in associating events separated by time.
  • The role of the PFC in storing memories for these temporal associations remains unclear.
  • Trace conditioning, dependent on PFC activity, involves a temporal gap between conditioned and unconditioned stimuli.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in the storage of associative memories for temporally separated events.
  • To determine if the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk) cascade in the mPFC is involved in memory encoding or retention for trace fear conditioning.
  • To examine the mPFC's role in memory for the relevancy of the training context.

Main Methods:

Related Experiment Videos

  • Rats underwent trace fear conditioning.
  • The extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk) cascade in the medial prefrontal cortex was inhibited.
  • Memory encoding and retention were assessed.
  • Memory for training context relevancy was evaluated.
  • Erk phosphorylation in the hippocampus and mPFC was measured over time.

    • Main Results:

    • Inhibition of the Erk cascade in the mPFC did not affect memory encoding but impaired memory retention in trace fear conditioning.
    • Animals with inhibited mPFC Erk showed impaired memory for the irrelevancy of the training context.
    • Hippocampal Erk phosphorylation occurred later than mPFC Erk phosphorylation post-conditioning.

    Conclusions:

    • The medial prefrontal cortex plays a direct role in the storage of associative memories for temporally separated events.
    • The Erk cascade in the mPFC is essential for memory retention and for storing the relevancy of conditioning contexts.
    • Findings suggest distinct temporal dynamics of Erk activation in the mPFC and hippocampus during memory formation for trace conditioning.