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Contreras, M.P.* ; Mendez, M.* ; Shan, X.* ; Fechner, J.* ; Sawangjit, A.* ; Born, J. ; Inostroza, M.*

Context memory formed in medial prefrontal cortex during infancy enhances learning in adulthood.

Nat. Commun. 15:2475 (2024)

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Adult behavior is commonly thought to be shaped by early-life experience, although episodes experienced during infancy appear to be forgotten. Exposing male rats during infancy to discrete spatial experience we show that these rats in adulthood are significantly better at forming a spatial memory than control rats without such infantile experience. We moreover show that the adult rats' improved spatial memory capability is mainly based on memory for context information during the infantile experiences. Infantile spatial experience increased c-Fos activity at memory testing during adulthood in the prelimbic medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), but not in the hippocampus. Inhibiting prelimbic mPFC at testing during adulthood abolished the enhancing effect of infantile spatial experience on learning. Adult spatial memory capability only benefitted from spatial experience occurring during the sensitive period of infancy, but not when occurring later during childhood, and when sleep followed the infantile experience. In conclusion, the infantile brain, by a sleep-dependent mechanism, favors consolidation of memory for the context in which episodes are experienced. These representations comprise mPFC regions and context-dependently facilitate learning in adulthood.

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Publication type Article: Journal article

Document type Scientific Article

Corresponding Author

Keywords Spatial Memory; Infantile Amnesia; Episodic Memory; Systems Consolidation; Recognition Memory; Object-location; Critical Period; C-fos; Sleep; Hippocampus

ISSN (print) / ISBN 2041-1723

e-ISSN 2041-1723

Journal Nature Communications

Quellenangaben Volume: 15, Issue: 1, Article Number: 2475

Publisher Nature Publishing Group

Publishing Place London

Non-patent literature Publications

Reviewing status Peer reviewed

Institute(s) Institute of Diabetes Research and Metabolic Diseases (IDM)

Grants Hertie Foundation (Hertie Network of Excellence in Clinical Neuroscience)
China Scholarship Council
Spanish Government
European Research Council
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation)