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Updated: Mar 16, 2026

Immunohistochemical Visualization of Hippocampal Neuron Activity After Spatial Learning in a Mouse Model of Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Published on: May 12, 2015
Cognitive neuroepigenetics: the next evolution in our understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying learning
Paul Marshall1, Timothy W Bredy2
1Department of Neurobiology and Behavior and Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA 92697.
Abstract:
A complete understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of learning and memory continues to elude neuroscientists. Although many important discoveries have been made, the question of how memories are encoded and maintained at the molecular level remains. To date, this issue has been framed within the context of one of the most dominant concepts in molecular biology, the central dogma, and the result has been a protein-centric view of memory. Here we discuss the evidence supporting a role for neuroepigenetic mechanisms, which constitute dynamic and reversible, state-dependent modifications at all levels of control over cellular function, and their role in learning and memory. This neuroepigenetic view suggests that DNA, RNA and protein each influence one another to produce a holistic cellular state that contributes to the formation and maintenance of memory, and predicts a parallel and distributed system for the consolidation, storage and retrieval of the engram.
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