Creating a False Memory in the Hippocampus

• Main Authors: Ramirez Moreno, Steve (Contributor), Liu, Xu (Contributor), Lin, Pei-Ann (Contributor), Suh, Junghyup (Contributor), Ryan, Tomas John (Contributor), Redondo, Roger L. (Contributor), Tonegawa, Susumu (Contributor), Pignatelli di Spinazzola, Michele (Author)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biology (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences (Contributor), Picower Institute for Learning and Memory (Contributor), RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics (Contributor), Pignatelli di Spinazzola, Mich (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), 2014-03-28T18:14:02Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

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.
RIKEN Brain Science Institute