Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory & Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2012 May;97(4):465-9. doi: 10.1016/j.nlm.2012.03.010. Epub 2012 Apr 4.
Pattern separation, the process by which similar experiences can be stored as distinct memories, has been ascribed to the dentate gyrus (DG) of the hippocampus. The DG is the target of noradrenergic modulation directly and indirectly via the basolateral amygdala. We tested the hypothesis that noradrenergic activation (tested using salivary alpha-amylase) potentiates DG function, enhancing pattern separation, by showing participants fearful stimuli in a pre-training task and then testing their capacity for pattern separation in a later test. Consistent with our hypothesis, we found that increased levels of salivary alpha-amylase were positively correlated with enhanced pattern separation performance even after accounting for general enhancements in recognition.
模式分离是指将相似的经历存储为不同记忆的过程,这一过程归因于海马体的齿状回(DG)。DG 是去甲肾上腺素能调节的直接和间接靶点,通过基底外侧杏仁核。我们通过在预训练任务中向参与者展示恐惧刺激,然后在后续测试中测试他们的模式分离能力,来检验去甲肾上腺素能激活(通过唾液 α-淀粉酶测试)增强 DG 功能、增强模式分离的假设。与我们的假设一致,我们发现即使在考虑到一般识别增强的情况下,唾液 α-淀粉酶水平的升高与增强的模式分离性能呈正相关。