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Related Experiment Videos

Manipulating a "cocaine engram" in mice.

Hwa-Lin Liz Hsiang1, Jonathan R Epp1, Michel C van den Oever1

  • 1Program in Neurosciences and Mental Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, M5G 1X8, Canada, Institute of Medical Sciences, and Department of Psychology, Physiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5G 1X8, Canada, and.

The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience
|October 17, 2014
PubMed
Summary

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Cocaine addiction involves long-lasting memories. Researchers identified specific neurons in the lateral amygdala (LA) that store these memories, finding that the transcription factor CREB is crucial for cocaine memory formation and consolidation.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Addiction Research
  • Molecular Psychiatry

Background:

  • Drug addiction is characterized by persistent, powerful memories associated with drug cues.
  • The precise neural circuits and molecular mechanisms underlying the storage of these drug memories remain largely unknown.
  • Understanding memory engrams is critical for developing effective addiction treatments.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the neural circuits involved in encoding, consolidating, and storing cocaine-associated memories.
  • To identify specific neuronal populations within the amygdala that form the cocaine memory trace.
  • To explore the role of the transcription factor CREB in the formation and persistence of cocaine memories.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized a conditioned place preference paradigm in mice to model cocaine memory.
Keywords:
amygdalacocaineconditioningmemoryplace preference

Related Experiment Videos

  • Identified and characterized neurons recruited into the cocaine memory engram in the lateral nucleus of the amygdala (LA).
  • Assessed the impact of ablating or silencing CREB-overexpressing neurons on memory expression and consolidation.

    • Main Results:

    • A subpopulation of approximately 10% of LA neurons was recruited into the cocaine memory engram.
    • Neurons overexpressing the transcription factor CREB were preferentially allocated to this cocaine engram.
    • Disrupting CREB-overexpressing neurons impaired the expression and consolidation of previously acquired cocaine memories.

    Conclusions:

    • Specific neurons overexpressing CREB in the LA form a critical hub for cocaine memory.
    • These findings elucidate the neural mechanisms of drug memory encoding and storage.
    • This research may inform novel therapeutic strategies for treating drug addiction.