Creating a false memory in the hippocampus.
Author: Ramirez S, Liu X, Lin PA, Suh J, Pignatelli M, Redondo RL, Ryan TJ, Tonegawa S.
Affiliation:
RIKEN-Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Neural Circuit Genetics at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, Department of Biology, MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Conference/Journal: Science.
Date published: 2013 Jul 26
Other:
Volume ID: 341 , Issue ID: 6144 , Pages: doi: 10.1126/science.1239073 , Word Count: 118
Memories can be unreliable. We created a false memory in mice by optogenetically manipulating memory engram-bearing cells in the hippocampus. Dentate gyrus (DG) or CA1 neurons activated by exposure to a particular context were labeled with channelrhodopsin-2. These neurons were later optically reactivated during fear conditioning in a different context. The DG experimental group showed increased freezing in the original context, in which a foot shock was never delivered. The recall of this false memory was context-specific, activated similar downstream regions engaged during natural fear memory recall, and was also capable of driving an active fear response. Our data demonstrate that it is possible to generate an internally represented and behaviorally expressed fear memory via artificial means.
PMID: 23888038
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