Summary: A new scientific journal maps cellular and molecular mechanisms behind the formation, consolidation, generalization and updating of memory, revealing how memories are stored, modified and even manipulated in the brain.
The main breakthroughs now allow scientists to visualize and activate specific neurons involved in memory, offering a more in -depth overview of how learning occurs and how memories of fear can become too generalized in disorders like the SSPT.
The journal explains how neurons are selected for coding of memory, how memories go from the hippocampus to the cortex and how reactivated memories can be reshaped. These ideas could lead to targeted therapies that modify the traces of emotional memory without erasing basic experiences.
Key facts:
- Memory engrams: Souvenirs are stored in poorly distributed neurons that undergo lasting molecular changes.
- Risk of generalization: When the specificity of memory fades, generation generation can cause SSPT and anxiety.
- Modifiable traces: Reactivated memories can be updated, offering a potential for emotional therapy.
Source: Genomic press
In a large number of genomic leaders of the genomic press invited to the revision published today, researchers have mapped the dynamic cellular mechanisms that allow the brain to consolidate, generalize and update memories.
This scientific synthesis offers valuable information on how memories are coded in the brain and how they can change over time, with substantial implications for conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder (SSPT).
The hunt for memory traces
One of the most fundamental questions of neuroscience is how the brain can store, generalize and update memories. It is believed that memories are stored by biophysical and molecular changes in neural sets called Enggrams, distributed in different brain regions.
These engrams are poorly distributed populations of neurons that undergo lasting physical or chemical changes during learning, creating a biological representation of our experiences.
“The search for mechanistic substrates of memory, which Richard Semon called” Engram “, continued to the present day,” said Professor Zhe-Yu Chen of the University of Shandong, the corresponding author of the journal.
“Our understanding of memory engrams has gone from theoretical abstraction to a biological reality through modern neuroscience techniques.”
The breakthroughs of neurosciences allow a visualization of memory
The examination details how recent technological progress has transformed our ability to study memory. Modern techniques now allow scientists to label, follow and even manipulate the specific neurons involved in the training and recovery of memories.
“The advanced methods combining the immediate markings based on the genes with optogenetic manipulation allowed the identification and control of neural complexes coding for specific memories,” notes Dr Shuai-Wen Teng, co-author of the review.
“This technological breakthrough allowed us to observe memory in action at the cellular level.”
Scientists can now visually identify neurons that are active during the training and recovery of memory. More remarkable, they can artificially activate these neurons to induce a reminder of memory, even in the absence of normal sensory clues. This means that researchers can effectively “activate” memory by stimulating good cells.
Memory allowance and training
The review explains how neurons are selected to be part of a trace of memory during the initial coding process. This selection is not random – neurons with higher excitability at the time of learning are more likely to be recruited in the memory set.
“It’s like a competition between neurons,” continues Dr. Teng.
“Cells with high basic excitability have preferential activation during learning and are disproportionately incorporated into sets coding for memory.”
This process is regulated by a transcription factor called CREB, which improves both intrinsic excitability and the dendritic spine density. When a neuron has a higher CREB activity, it becomes more likely to be recruited in an engram of memory.
How memories change over time
A fascinating aspect of the review covers how memories are transformed when they consolidate. The new memories initially depend on the hippocampus but gradually transmit to relying more on the cortex via a process called consolidation systems.
“After initial synaptic stabilization, memories are consolidated by the system, from hippocampal dependence on prefrontal medial storage dependent on the cortex over the days to years,” explains Dr. Chen.
“This allows hippocampal engrams to maintain episodic details specific to the context, while the sets of medial prefrontal cortex code more schematic and generalized representations.”
This natural process explains why memories often become more generalized over time, losing specific details while preserving basic concepts. This fundamental brain mechanism supports learning, but can also contribute to conditions such as the SSPT when memories of fear become too generalized.
Generalization of memory and anxiety disorders
Researchers detail how the generalization of memory, although an adaptive process to apply learning past to new situations, can become unsuitable under conditions such as SSPT and anxiety disorders.
The hippocampus plays a crucial role in maintaining the specificity of memory. When this function is compromised, perhaps due to exposure to stress or modified signaling routes, memories can become too generalized, leading to responses of inappropriate fear.
“Fear of generalization represents a behavioral response unsuitable for non -threatening stimuli or neutral environments,” said Dr. Chen.
“This phenomenon is a characteristic characteristic of anxiety spectrum disorders such as generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.”
The researchers describe several mechanisms that stimulate the generalization of memory, including the changes induced by stress in hippocampal and amygdal circuits. Understanding these mechanisms could lead to targeted interventions for anxiety disorders.
Update and modification of memory
The journal also explores how existing memories can be updated with new information. When memories are reactivated, they become temporarily malleable, which allows them to incorporate new data or emotional contexts.
“Memory update is a fundamental process that allows organizations to adapt to new information, modify existing knowledge and integrate new experiences with pre -existing memories,” explains Dr. Teng.
“The valence associated with the Hippocampal Date Gyrus memory engagement could be reversely reversed.”
This suggests exciting possibilities to treat emotional disorders by modifying emotional associations of traumatic memories. Could therapies be developed which specifically target memory engrams to reduce their emotional impact without erasing the memories themselves? This remains an active field of research with significant clinical potential.
The future of research in memory
The review describes several outstanding questions to which researchers are still working to answer. How exactly do nuclear changes during memory formation connect to strengthening specific synaptic connections? What mechanisms are pushing neurons to join or leave the Engrand networks for various memory processes? How does the brain maintain the delicate balance between the stability of memory and flexibility?
“Our knowledge of the intrinsic mechanism underlying the offline activation of the engrams of memory in an unconscious state is completely lacking,” notes Dr Chen.
“Understanding how the representations of memory derive over time according to our experiences and our internal states is a critical field for a future survey.”
About this memory and news of the SSPT research
Author: Ma-li Wong
Source: Genomic press
Contact: Ma -li Wong – Genomic press
Picture: The image is credited with Neuroscience News
Original search: Open access.
“Dynamic memory of memory: reveal the celess mechanisms of the coding of memory, consolidation, general and update in the brain” by Zhe-Yu Chen et al. Brain medicine
Abstract
Memoro Dynamic Memory Enqrams: reveal the celess mechanisms of the coding of memory, consolidation, general and update in the brain
One of the fundamental questions of neuroscience is how the brain can store, generalize and update memories.
It is believed that memories are stored by biophysical and molecular changes in neural complexes called Enggrams, which are distributed in different brain regions.
The dynamic changes that occur in Engram cells during coding, consolidation, generalization and the update of memory are still not fully understood.
However, recent progress in labeling and handling techniques of neural activity have made it possible to study the dynamic changes in memory engrams on different memory processes.
Understanding the dynamics of ENGRAM can shed light on interventions for post-traumatic stress disorders and memory disorders.
In this review, we summarize recent progress in dynamic memory engrams through coding, consolidation, generalization and memory updating, annihilating new lighting on the mechanisms underlying the training and maturation of engrams.
