Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, Rochester, MN, United States.
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2024 Apr;159:105574. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105574. Epub 2024 Feb 6.
The quest to understand the memory engram has intrigued humans for centuries. Recent technological advances, including genetic labelling, imaging, optogenetic and chemogenetic techniques, have propelled the field of memory research forward. These tools have enabled researchers to create and erase memory components. While these innovative techniques have yielded invaluable insights, they often focus on specific elements of the memory trace. Genetic labelling may rely on a particular immediate early gene as a marker of activity, optogenetics may activate or inhibit one specific type of neuron, and imaging may capture activity snapshots in a given brain region at specific times. Yet, memories are multifaceted, involving diverse arrays of neuronal subpopulations, circuits, and regions that work in concert to create, store, and retrieve information. Consideration of contributions of both excitatory and inhibitory neurons, micro and macro circuits across brain regions, the dynamic nature of active ensembles, and representational drift is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of the complex nature of memory.
理解记忆印痕的探索已经引发了人类几个世纪的兴趣。最近的技术进步，包括遗传标记、成像、光遗传学和化遗传学技术，推动了记忆研究领域的发展。这些工具使研究人员能够创造和抹去记忆成分。虽然这些创新技术提供了宝贵的见解，但它们通常侧重于记忆痕迹的特定元素。遗传标记可能依赖于特定的即时早期基因作为活性标记，光遗传学可以激活或抑制一种特定类型的神经元，而成像可以在特定时间捕获特定脑区的活动快照。然而，记忆是多方面的，涉及到不同类型的神经元亚群、回路和区域，它们协同工作以创建、存储和检索信息。考虑到兴奋性和抑制性神经元、跨越脑区的微观和宏观回路、活动集合的动态性质以及表示漂移的贡献，对于全面理解记忆的复杂性质至关重要。
