Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
Neuron. 2021 Jun 2;109(11):1836-1847.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2021.04.006. Epub 2021 Apr 28.
Mature behaviors emerge from neural circuits sculpted by genetic programs and spontaneous and evoked neural activity. However, how neural activity is refined to drive maturation of learned behavior remains poorly understood. Here, we explore how transient hormonal signaling coordinates a neural activity state transition and maturation of associative learning. We identify spontaneous, asynchronous activity in a Drosophila learning and memory brain region, the mushroom body. This activity declines significantly over the first week of adulthood. Moreover, this activity is generated cell-autonomously via Cacophony voltage-gated calcium channels in a single cell type, α'/β' Kenyon cells. Juvenile hormone, a crucial developmental regulator, acts transiently in α'/β' Kenyon cells during a young adult sensitive period to downregulate spontaneous activity and enable subsequent enhanced learning. Hormone signaling in young animals therefore controls a neural activity state transition and is required for improved associative learning, providing insight into the maturation of circuits and behavior.
成熟的行为源自受遗传程序和自发及诱发的神经活动塑造的神经回路。然而，神经活动如何被精细调节以驱动习得行为的成熟仍然知之甚少。在这里，我们探讨了短暂的激素信号如何协调神经活动状态的转变和联想学习的成熟。我们在果蝇学习和记忆脑区蘑菇体中发现了自发的、异步的活动。这种活动在成年后的第一周内显著下降。此外，这种活动是通过单个细胞类型α'/β' Kenyon 细胞中的 Cacophony 电压门控钙通道自主产生的。蜕皮激素是一种关键的发育调节剂，在年轻成虫的敏感时期在 α'/β' Kenyon 细胞中短暂作用，以下调自发活动并实现随后的增强学习。因此，幼年动物的激素信号控制着神经活动状态的转变，是改善联想学习所必需的，为理解回路和行为的成熟提供了线索。
