What is it about?
Here we show that long-term memory may not be stored at synapses. Long-term synaptic facilitation (LTF) was induced in cell cultures of sensory and motor neurons from the marine snail Aplysia. This produced the growth of new synapses between the sensory and motor neurons. When LTF was erased, the number of synapses reverted to the original value. However, the synapses that retracted were not necessarily the ones that grew during LTF, which implies that memory is not synaptically localized.
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Why is it important?
Since the pioneering work of the Spanish neuroanatomist, Ramon y Cajal, neuroscientists have accepted that learning causes the formation of new synaptic connections within the brain. A corollary of this idea is that memories are stored, in part, as persistent molecular/cellular changes at synapses. Our data challenge this idea and provide support for an alternative hypothesis, namely that long-term memories are stored as epigenetic changes within the cell nucleus of neurons.
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Reinstatement of long-term memory following erasure of its behavioral and synaptic expression in Aplysia , eLife, November 2014, eLife,
DOI: 10.7554/elife.03896.
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Resources
Neuroskeptic: "The Synapse Memory Doctrine Threatened?"
Insightful blog about the paper that appeared in Discover Magazine. The author makes several excellent points. The comments accompanying the blog also make for informative reading.
"Lost memories might be able to be restored, new UCLA study indicates"
UCLA press release about the paper
"Memories May Not Live in Neurons' Synapses"
Article in Scientific American about the results and PTSD. Note that the article contains some errors. First, the article states that long-term memory (LTM) was induced in neurons in intact animals prior to transferring the neurons into cell culture; instead, LTM was induced de novo in cultured neurons through treatment with the neurotransmitter serotonin. Second, propranolol was not used to disrupt LTM following memory reactivation; rather, the protein synthesis inhibitor anisomycin was.
"Long Term Memories May Not Be Stored In Synapses After All"
Blog about the paper that appeared in The Brain section of IFL Science.
"There May Be Some Hope For Restoring Lost Memories In The Brain"
Article about the paper published in the Huffington Post.
"How do our brains retain a record of our past experience?"
TEDx talk by David Glanzman that presents some of the findings in the paper and discusses their implications for restoring lost memories.
"A Memorable Snail"
A NOVA video that contains useful background information on the study of memory in Aplysia.
"UCLA Researcher’s Radical Idea: ‘Long-Term Memory Is Not Stored At The Synapse’"
Blog in the INQUISITR about the paper.
"Lost memories may not be gone forever, new brain research says"
Blog about the paper in the Science Recorder.
"Cure for memory loss could be on the horizon"
Article about the paper in The Telegraph, an online newspaper.
"Lost memories could be RESTORED: Researchers say new technique could help Alzheimer's sufferers reverse brain damage "
Article on the paper in the Daily Mail, an online newspaper.
"Memories are stored in neurons, not synapses, and therefore can be restored, shows new research"
Thoughtful blog on the paper that appeared in The Speaker. Contains a brief interview with the paper's senior author, David Glanzman, who discusses the implications of the results.
"Scientists uncover potential to restore lost memories in patients with early Alzheimer's"
Blog in Medical News Today that contains some interesting discussion about the implications of the findings in the eLife paper for treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
F1000 Recommendation
Recommendation of the paper by Noam Ziv published in F1000 Prime.
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