Cargando…
Tissue clearing applications in memory engram research
A memory engram is thought to be the physical substrate of the memory trace within the brain, which is generally depicted as a neuronal ensemble activated by learning to fire together during encoding and retrieval. It has been postulated that engram cell ensembles are functionally interconnected acr...
Autores principales: | , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2023
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10493294/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37700912 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1181818 |
_version_ | 1785104443942895616 |
---|---|
author | Yip, Kwok Yui Tony Gräff, Johannes |
author_facet | Yip, Kwok Yui Tony Gräff, Johannes |
author_sort | Yip, Kwok Yui Tony |
collection | PubMed |
description | A memory engram is thought to be the physical substrate of the memory trace within the brain, which is generally depicted as a neuronal ensemble activated by learning to fire together during encoding and retrieval. It has been postulated that engram cell ensembles are functionally interconnected across multiple brain regions to store a single memory as an “engram complex”, but visualizing this engram complex across the whole brain has for long been hindered by technical limitations. With the recent development of tissue clearing techniques, advanced light-sheet microscopy, and automated 3D image analysis, it has now become possible to generate a brain-wide map of engram cells and thereby to visualize the “engram complex”. In this review, we first provide a comprehensive summary of brain-wide engram mapping studies to date. We then compile a guide on implementing the optimal tissue clearing technique for engram tagging approaches, paying particular attention to visualize engram reactivation as a critical mnemonic property, for which whole-brain multiplexed immunostaining becomes a challenging prerequisite. Finally, we highlight the potential of tissue clearing to simultaneously shed light on both the circuit connectivity and molecular underpinnings of engram cells in a single snapshot. In doing so, novel brain regions and circuits can be identified for subsequent functional manipulation, thus providing an opportunity to robustly examine the “engram complex” underlying memory storage. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10493294 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-104932942023-09-12 Tissue clearing applications in memory engram research Yip, Kwok Yui Tony Gräff, Johannes Front Behav Neurosci Behavioral Neuroscience A memory engram is thought to be the physical substrate of the memory trace within the brain, which is generally depicted as a neuronal ensemble activated by learning to fire together during encoding and retrieval. It has been postulated that engram cell ensembles are functionally interconnected across multiple brain regions to store a single memory as an “engram complex”, but visualizing this engram complex across the whole brain has for long been hindered by technical limitations. With the recent development of tissue clearing techniques, advanced light-sheet microscopy, and automated 3D image analysis, it has now become possible to generate a brain-wide map of engram cells and thereby to visualize the “engram complex”. In this review, we first provide a comprehensive summary of brain-wide engram mapping studies to date. We then compile a guide on implementing the optimal tissue clearing technique for engram tagging approaches, paying particular attention to visualize engram reactivation as a critical mnemonic property, for which whole-brain multiplexed immunostaining becomes a challenging prerequisite. Finally, we highlight the potential of tissue clearing to simultaneously shed light on both the circuit connectivity and molecular underpinnings of engram cells in a single snapshot. In doing so, novel brain regions and circuits can be identified for subsequent functional manipulation, thus providing an opportunity to robustly examine the “engram complex” underlying memory storage. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-08-28 /pmc/articles/PMC10493294/ /pubmed/37700912 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1181818 Text en Copyright © 2023 Yip and Gräff. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Behavioral Neuroscience Yip, Kwok Yui Tony Gräff, Johannes Tissue clearing applications in memory engram research |
title | Tissue clearing applications in memory engram research |
title_full | Tissue clearing applications in memory engram research |
title_fullStr | Tissue clearing applications in memory engram research |
title_full_unstemmed | Tissue clearing applications in memory engram research |
title_short | Tissue clearing applications in memory engram research |
title_sort | tissue clearing applications in memory engram research |
topic | Behavioral Neuroscience |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10493294/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37700912 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2023.1181818 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT yipkwokyuitony tissueclearingapplicationsinmemoryengramresearch AT graffjohannes tissueclearingapplicationsinmemoryengramresearch |