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Updated: Jun 12, 2026
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Assessment of Memory Function in Pilocarpine-induced Epileptic Mice
Published on: June 4, 2020
Dorsal hippocampal CREB is both necessary and sufficient for spatial memory
Melanie J Sekeres1, Rachael L Neve, Paul W Frankland
1Program in Neurosciences and Mental Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1X8, Canada.
Learning & Memory (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.)
|May 25, 2010
Summary
Increasing the transcription factor CREB in the hippocampus is sufficient to create spatial memory, even in challenging conditions. This confirms CREB
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Molecular Biology
- Cognitive Science
Background:
- The transcription factor CREB is known to be involved in memory formation.
- Its sufficiency in establishing spatial memory under non-permissive conditions remains unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if CREB is sufficient to induce spatial memory in mammals.
- To investigate CREB's role in the hippocampus under conditions that typically hinder memory formation.
Main Methods:
- Utilized viral vectors to acutely increase CREB levels in the dorsal hippocampus of mice.
- Examined spatial memory formation in weakly trained wild-type mice and strongly trained mutant mice with disrupted CREB function.
Main Results:
- Locally and acutely increasing CREB levels in the dorsal hippocampus successfully induced robust spatial memory.
- This effect was observed in both weakly trained wild-type mice and strongly trained mutant mice lacking CREB function.
Conclusions:
- CREB is both necessary and sufficient for the formation of spatial memory.
- CREB plays a critical role in the hippocampal molecular mechanisms essential for spatial memory.
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