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A cortical cell ensemble in the posterior parietal cortex controls past experience-dependent memory updating
Akinobu Suzuki1,2,3, Sakurako Kosugi1,2, Emi Murayama1,2,3
1Department of Biochemistry, Graduate School of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Toyama, 2630 Sugitani, Toyama, 930-0194, Japan.
Nature Communications
|January 12, 2022
Summary
Mice update memories by integrating new sensory information with past experiences. A specific group of posterior parietal cortex (PPC) cells helps link past and present information to modify memory networks.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Science
- Memory Research
Background:
- Animals utilize past experiences when processing new sensory information to update memories.
- The precise neural mechanisms by which prior experiences influence current learning remain largely unknown.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the neuronal basis for how memories of past experiences impact current learning and memory updating.
- To identify the brain regions and cellular populations involved in integrating past and present information for memory modification.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a mouse model to study memory updating processes.
- Employed optogenetics to selectively silence cellular ensembles in the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) after memory retrieval.
- Examined the effects of silencing on memory interaction and the integrity of individual memories stored in the hippocampus and amygdala.
Main Results:
- Identified a specific cellular ensemble in the PPC activated during past experiences.
- Demonstrated that this PPC ensemble mediates the interaction between past and current information for memory updating via a PPC-anterior cingulate cortex circuit.
- Showed that optogenetic silencing of the PPC ensemble post-retrieval disrupted this interaction without impairing existing hippocampal or amygdala memories.
Conclusions:
- A distinct subpopulation of PPC cells encodes past information.
- These PPC cells play a crucial role in instructing downstream brain regions to update previously formed memories.
- This finding elucidates a key neural mechanism for memory consolidation and adaptation.
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