ArticleNeuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology2020
A time-dependent role for the transcription factor CREB in neuronal allocation to an engram underlying a fear memory revealed using a novel in vivo optogenetic tool to modulate CREB function.
Article in Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 44 citations in OpenAlex.
- Molecular architects of memory: BDNF/TrkB signaling and trafficking in neuronal plasticity and memory.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- NongeneticACS nano · 2026Article
- Engram Synapses and Synapse Dynamics in Memory Processing.Journal of neurochemistry · 2026Review
- Writing the Engram: Epigenetic Mechanisms of Memory Allocation.Journal of neurochemistry · 2025Review
- Drug-Related Engrams and Their Role in the Persistence and Recurrence of Drug-Related Behaviors.Hippocampus · 2025Review
- The role of the Wnt/BDNF pathway in maternal SCH-induced autism-like phenotypes in offspring rats: behavioral and molecular mechanisms.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Long-Term Memory Engrams From Development to Adulthood.Hippocampus · 2025Review
- A sensitive period for the development of episodic-like memory in mice.Current biology : CB · 2025Article
- Activity-dependent transcriptional programs in memory regulate motor recovery after stroke.Communications biology · 2024Article
- Article
- Unveiling Transcriptional and Epigenetic Mechanisms Within Engram Cells: Insights into Memory Formation and Stability.Advances in neurobiology · 2024Review
- Contextual memory engrams, and the neuromodulatory influence of the locus coeruleus.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2024Review
- Synaptic Engram.Advances in neurobiology · 2024Review
- Fast-spiking parvalbumin-positive interneurons in brain physiology and Alzheimer's disease.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Review
- Engram neurons: Encoding, consolidation, retrieval, and forgetting of memory.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Review
- Formation and fate of an engram in the lateral amygdala supporting a rewarding memory in mice.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2023Article
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- Article
- Exploring the memory: existing activity-dependent tools to tag and manipulate engram cells.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2023Review
- Opto-extinction of a threat memory in mice.Brain research bulletin · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The internal representation of an experience is thought to be encoded by long-lasting physical changes to the brain ("engrams") . Previously, we and others showed within the lateral amygdala (LA), a region critical for auditory conditioned fear, eligible neurons compete against one other for allocation to an engram. Neurons with relatively higher function of the transcription factor CREB were more likely to be allocated to the engram. In these studies, though, CREB function was artificially increased for several days before training. Precisely when increased CREB function is important for allocation remains an unanswered question. Here, we took advantage of a novel optogenetic tool (opto-DN-CREB) to gain spatial and temporal control of CREB function in freely behaving mice. We found increasing CREB function in a small, random population of LA principal neurons in the minutes, but not 24 h, before training was sufficient to enhance memory, likely because these neurons were preferentially allocated to the underlying engram. However, similarly increasing CREB activity in a small population of random LA neurons immediately after training disrupted subsequent memory retrieval, likely by disrupting the precise spatial and temporal patterns of offline post-training neuronal activity and/or function required for consolidation. These findings reveal the importance of the timing of CREB activity in regulating allocation and subsequent memory retrieval, and further, highlight the potential of optogenetic approaches to control protein function with temporal specificity in behaving animals.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.