Prefrontal activity links nonoverlapping events in memory. J Neurosci 2013 Jun 26;33(26):10910-4
Date
06/28/2013Pubmed ID
23804110Pubmed Central ID
PMC3693060DOI
10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0144-13.2013Scopus ID
2-s2.0-84879288858 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 76 CitationsAbstract
The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) plays an important role in memory. By maintaining a working memory buffer, neurons in prelimbic (PL) mPFC may selectively contribute to learning associations between stimuli that are separated in time, as in trace fear conditioning (TFC). Until now, evidence for this bridging role was largely descriptive. Here we used optogenetics to silence neurons in the PL mPFC of rats during learning in TFC. Memory formation was prevented when mPFC was silenced specifically during the interval separating the cue and shock. Our results provide support for a working memory function for these cells and indicate that associating two noncontiguous stimuli requires bridging activity in PL mPFC.
Author List
Gilmartin MR, Miyawaki H, Helmstetter FJ, Diba KAuthor
Fred Helmstetter PhD Professor in the Psychology / Neuroscience department at University of Wisconsin - MilwaukeeMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
Analysis of VarianceAnimals
Association Learning
Conditioning, Operant
Dependovirus
Fear
Fluorescent Antibody Technique
Genetic Vectors
Light
Limbic System
Male
Memory
Prefrontal Cortex
Rats
Rats, Long-Evans
