Memory reorganization in the ACC and thalamus

ACC 和丘脑的记忆重组

• 批准号: 249880-2011
• 负责人: Nader, Karim
• 金额: $ 4.44万
• 依托单位: McGill University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=570753
• 关键词: Memory; reorganization; ACC; thalamus

Memory has been the focus of a lot of research in the last century, but much is still not understood. Scientists have found that memories are stabilized over time through a process called consolidation. Two types of consolidation have been proposed to exist. The first type, cellular consolidation, occurs over minutes to hours and is thought to involve rewiring the connections between nerve cells. The second type, systems consolidation, involves additional changes at the global level of brain structures over a much longer time frame. As such, memories that are initially dependent on a brain structure called the hippocampus become dependent on other structures over time. For over a century, scientists believed that consolidated memories were permanently stabilized, implying that memories were consolidated at both levels only once. However, recent findings have shown that a consolidated memory can return to an unstable state when it when it is remembered. In this state, the memory can be altered, erased or restabilized through a process called reconsolidation. This phenomenon can also take place at the systems level (systems reconsolidation), when a memory no longer depends on the hippocampus. These findings of cellular and systems reconsolidation have thus challenged the standard view of consolidation. Recently, a number of studies have shown that specific regions in what is called the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), such as the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), mediate retrieval of remote memories. Furthermore, the intralaminar thalamic nuclei (ILN), a group of nuclei in another brain structure called the thalamus, have also recently been shown to be involved in systems consolidation. However, the roles of the ACC and the ILN in cellular and systems reconsolidation have not yet been investigated. This proposal will therefore combine behavioral and molecular studies to test whether the ACC and ILN undergo cellular and systems reconsolidation. This would provide a better understanding of these processes, as well as knowledge on how these brain structures function together on a regular basis.

在上个世纪，记忆一直是许多研究的焦点，但仍有许多问题没有得到理解。科学家们发现，随着时间的推移，记忆通过一个被称为巩固的过程而稳定下来。建议存在两种类型的合并。第一种类型是细胞整合，发生在几分钟到几小时内，被认为涉及神经细胞之间的重新连接。第二种类型，系统整合，涉及在更长的时间框架内大脑结构的全球水平上的额外变化。因此，最初依赖于称为海马体的大脑结构的记忆随着时间的推移会变得依赖于其他结构。世纪以来，科学家们一直认为巩固的记忆是永久稳定的，这意味着记忆在两个层面上都只巩固了一次。然而，最近的研究结果表明，巩固的记忆可以返回到一个不稳定的状态时，它被记住。在这种状态下，记忆可以被改变，擦除或通过称为重新整合的过程重新稳定。当记忆不再依赖于海马体时，这种现象也可以发生在系统层面（系统重新整合）。这些发现的细胞和系统的重新整合，从而挑战了标准的观点巩固。最近，许多研究表明，内侧前额叶皮层（mPFC）中的特定区域，如前扣带皮层（ACC），介导了远程记忆的提取。此外，丘脑板内核（ILN），另一种称为丘脑的大脑结构中的一组核团，最近也被证明参与系统巩固。然而，ACC和ILN在细胞和系统再巩固中的作用尚未被研究。因此，该建议将结合联合收割机的行为和分子研究，以测试ACC和ILN是否经历细胞和系统的重新整合。这将提供对这些过程的更好理解，以及关于这些大脑结构如何定期共同发挥作用的知识。