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Updated: Feb 21, 2026

Trace Fear Conditioning in Mice
Published on: March 20, 2014
miR-181a Participates in Contextual Fear Memory Formation Via Activating mTOR Signaling Pathway
Xu-Feng Xu1,2, Xu Jing1, Hui-Xian Ma1
1Department of Cell and Neurobiology, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, CAS Center for Excellence in Brain Science, School of Basic Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Long-term memory formation has been proven to require gene expression and new protein synthesis. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), as an endogenous small non-coding RNAs, inhibit the expression of their mRNA targets, through which involve in new memory formation. In this study, elevated miR-181a levels were found to be responsible for hippocampal contextual fear memory consolidation. Using a luciferase reporter assay, we indicated that miR-181a targets 2 upstream molecules of mTOR pathway, namely, PRKAA1 and REDD1. Upregulated miR-181a can downregulate the PRKAA1 and REDD1 protein levels and promote mTOR activity to facilitate hippocampal fear memory consolidation. These results indicate that miR-181a is involved in hippocampal contextual fear memory by activating the mTOR signaling pathway. This work provides a novel evidence for the role of miRNAs in memory formation and demonstrates the implication of mTOR signaling pathway in miRNA processing in the adult brain.
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