Scott Hannah, Smith Anna E, Barker Gareth R, Uney James B, Warburton E Clea
School of Physiology, Pharmacology and Neuroscience, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TD, UK.
School of Clinical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TD, UK.
Neuroepigenetics. 2017 Mar 6;9:1-9. doi: 10.1016/j.nepig.2017.02.001. eCollection 2017 Mar.
Recognition memory enables us to judge whether we have encountered a stimulus before and to recall associated information, including where the stimulus was encountered. The perirhinal cortex (PRh) is required for judgment of stimulus familiarity, while hippocampus (HPC) and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) are additionally involved when spatial information associated with a stimulus needs to be remembered. While gene expression is known to be essential for the consolidation of long-term recognition memory, the underlying regulatory mechanisms are not fully understood. Here we investigated the roles of two epigenetic mechanisms, DNA methylation and histone deacetylation, in recognition memory. Infusion of DNA methyltransferase inhibitors into PRh impaired performance in novel object recognition and object-in-place tasks while infusions into HPC or mPFC impaired object-in-place performance only. In contrast, inhibition of histone deacetylases in PRh, but not mPFC, enhanced recognition memory. These results support the emerging role of epigenetic processes in learning and memory.
认知记忆使我们能够判断自己之前是否遇到过某种刺激，并回忆相关信息，包括遇到该刺激的地点。嗅周皮质（PRh）对于判断刺激的熟悉程度是必需的，而当需要记住与刺激相关的空间信息时，海马体（HPC）和内侧前额叶皮质（mPFC）也会参与其中。虽然已知基因表达对于长期认知记忆的巩固至关重要，但其潜在的调控机制尚未完全了解。在这里，我们研究了两种表观遗传机制，即DNA甲基化和组蛋白去乙酰化，在认知记忆中的作用。向PRh注入DNA甲基转移酶抑制剂会损害新物体识别和物体定位任务的表现，而向HPC或mPFC注入则仅损害物体定位表现。相反，抑制PRh而非mPFC中的组蛋白去乙酰化酶可增强认知记忆。这些结果支持了表观遗传过程在学习和记忆中日益凸显的作用。
