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Extinction Training During the Reconsolidation Window Prevents Recovery of Fear
Published on: August 24, 2012
Stability of recent and remote contextual fear memory
Paul W Frankland1, Hoi-Ki Ding, Eiki Takahashi
1Program in Neuroscience and Mental Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5G 1X8. paul.frankland@sickkids.ca
Learning & Memory (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.)
|August 3, 2006
Summary
Memories become more stable as they mature. Disrupting protein synthesis in the dorsal hippocampus impaired recent fear memories, but not remote ones, suggesting increased memory stability over time.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Memory Research
- Systems Consolidation
Background:
- Memories undergo reorganization after initial encoding.
- Recent contextual fear memories involve the dorsal hippocampus (dHPC).
- Remote contextual fear memories involve cortical regions like the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC).
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if memory reorganization enhances memory stability.
- To examine the reconsolidation process of recent and remote contextual fear memories in mice.
Main Methods:
- Infusion of anisomycin (ANI), a protein synthesis inhibitor, into the dHPC or ACC after memory retrieval.
- Testing reconsolidation of 1-day-old (recent) and 36-day-old (remote) contextual fear memories.
- Comparing effects of centrally administered ANI versus systemic administration.
Main Results:
- Anisomycin in the dHPC disrupted recent memory expression but not remote memory.
- Anisomycin infusions into the ACC did not affect either recent or remote memories.
- Systemic anisomycin blocked remote memory expression only with prolonged re-exposure.
Conclusions:
- Contextual fear memories mature and become more stable over time.
- Memory stability is partly due to the distributed nature of remote memories across brain regions.
- The dorsal hippocampus is crucial for recent memory expression, while remote memories rely on distributed cortical networks.
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