Immediate-early gene transcriptional activation in hippocampus CA1 and CA3 does not accurately reflect rapid, pattern completion-based retrieval of context memory

No studies to date have examined whether immediate-early gene (IEG) activation is driven by context memory recall. To address this question, we utilized the context preexposure facilitation effect (CPFE) paradigm. In CPFE, animals acquire contextual fear conditioning through hippocampus-dependent rapid retrieval of a previously formed contextual representation. Despite differences in behavior, we did not find any difference in CA1 or CA3 IEG activity associated with this rapid recall phase when comparing context preexposed and non-pre-exposed groups. These findings indicate that IEG activation in CA1 and CA3 is not an accurate readout of the neural activity associated with hippocampus-dependent rapid memory retrieval.