Selective Erasure of a Fear Memory

By Jin-Hee Han, S. Kushner, A. Yiu, H. Hsiang, T. Buch, A. Waisman, B. Bontempi, R. Neve, Paul W. Frankland, Sheena A. Josselyn. 2009

535 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Memories are thought to be encoded by sparsely distributed groups of neurons. However, identifying the precise neurons supporting a given memory (the memory trace) has been a long-standing challenge. We have shown previously that lateral amygdala (LA) neurons with increased cyclic adenosine monophosphate response element–binding protein (CREB) are preferentially activated by fear memory expression, which suggests that they are selectively recruited into the memory trace. We used an inducible diphtheria-toxin strategy to specifically ablate these neurons. Selectively deleting neurons overexpressing CREB (but not a similar portion of random LA neurons) after learning blocked expression of that fear memory. The resulting memory loss was robust and persistent, which suggests that the memory was permanently erased. These results establish a causal link between a specific neuronal subpopulation and memory expression, thereby identifying critical neurons within the memory trace.

Subfields: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience, Cognitive Neuroscience, Neurology

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Citations in the corpus

Synapses and memory storage. (2012, background): “Conversely, if such neurons are deleted after learning, that specific fear memory is blocked while other fear associations stay intact (Han et al. 2009).”
Memory engrams: Recalling the past and imagining the future (2020, methodology): “A virus expressing both CREB (to allocate neurons) and an inducible construct that produces cell-autonomous ablation was used to specifically kill allocated neurons after training (58).”
Silencing the majority of cerebellar granule cells uncovers their essential role in motor learning and consolidation. (2013, background): “…fear-conditioningmemory can be affected by a blockage of AMPA receptor synaptic incorporation in as few as 15% of the neuronal population in the lateral amygdala or by deleting a similarly small subpopulation of CREB-expressing neurons in the same region (Han et al., 2009; Rumpel et al., 2005).”
The Persistence and Transience of Memory. (2017, background): “Second, if reactivation of these ‘‘tagged’’ neurons is prevented in a recall test, memory retrieval is compromised (Berndt et al., 2016; Denny et al., 2014; Han et al., 2009; Hsiang et al., 2014; Park et al., 2016; Rashid et al., 2016; Tanaka et al., 2014; Zhou et al., 2009).”