de Quervain Dominique J-F, Papassotiropoulos Andreas
Division of Psychiatry Research and Center for Integrative Human Physiology, University of Zürich, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Mar 14;103(11):4270-4. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0510212103. Epub 2006 Mar 7.
Experimental work in animals has shown that memory formation depends on a cascade of molecular events. Here we show that variability of human memory performance is related to variability in genes encoding proteins of this signaling cascade, including the NMDA and metabotrobic glutamate receptors, adenylyl cyclase, CAMKII, PKA, and PKC. The individual profile of genetic variability in these signaling molecules correlated significantly with episodic memory performance (P < 0.00001). Moreover, functional MRI during memory formation revealed that this genetic profile correlated with activations in memory-related brain regions, including the hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus. The present study indicates that genetic variability in the human homologues of memory-related signaling molecules contributes to interindividual differences in human memory performance and memory-related brain activations.
动物实验研究表明，记忆形成依赖于一系列分子事件。在此我们表明，人类记忆表现的变异性与编码该信号级联反应中蛋白质的基因变异性有关，这些蛋白质包括N-甲基-D-天冬氨酸（NMDA）和代谢型谷氨酸受体、腺苷酸环化酶、钙/钙调蛋白依赖性蛋白激酶II（CAMKII）、蛋白激酶A（PKA）和蛋白激酶C（PKC）。这些信号分子的基因变异个体谱与情景记忆表现显著相关（P < 0.00001）。此外，记忆形成过程中的功能磁共振成像显示，这种基因谱与记忆相关脑区（包括海马体和海马旁回）的激活相关。本研究表明，记忆相关信号分子的人类同源物中的基因变异导致了人类记忆表现和记忆相关脑激活的个体差异。
