Matsuo Naoki
Cell Rep. 2015 Apr 21;11(3):351-7. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2015.03.042.
Lesion studies suggest that an alternative system can compensate for damage to the primary region employed when animals acquire a memory. However, it is unclear whether functional compensation occurs at the cellular ensemble level. Here, we inhibited the activities of a specific subset of neurons activated during initial learning by utilizing a transgenic mouse that expresses tetanus toxin (TeNT) under the control of the c-fos promoter. Notably, suppression interfered with relearning while sparing the ability to acquire and express fear memory for a distinct context. These results suggest that the activity of the initial ensemble is preferentially dedicated to the same learning and that it is not replaceable once it is allocated. Our results provide substantial insights into the machinery underlying how the brain allocates individual memories to discrete neuronal ensembles and how it ensures that repetitive learning strengthens memory by reactivating the same neuronal ensembles.
损伤研究表明，当动物获取记忆时，一个替代系统可以补偿对所使用的主要区域的损伤。然而，尚不清楚功能补偿是否发生在细胞集群水平。在此，我们通过利用在c-fos启动子控制下表达破伤风毒素（TeNT）的转基因小鼠，抑制了初次学习期间激活的特定神经元子集的活动。值得注意的是，抑制干扰了再学习，同时保留了获取和表达对不同情境的恐惧记忆的能力。这些结果表明，初始集群的活动优先专用于相同的学习，并且一旦分配就不可替代。我们的结果为大脑如何将个体记忆分配到离散的神经元集群以及如何通过重新激活相同的神经元集群来确保重复学习增强记忆的潜在机制提供了重要见解。
