ePoster

Experience and reactivation status determine engram synapse structural connectivity

Panthea Nemat, Rolinka J. van der Loo, August B. Smit, Sabine Spijker, Priyanka Rao-Ruiz
FENS Forum 2024(2024)
Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center, Vienna, Austria

Conference

FENS Forum 2024

Messe Wien Exhibition & Congress Center, Vienna, Austria

Resources

Authors & Affiliations

Panthea Nemat, Rolinka J. van der Loo, August B. Smit, Sabine Spijker, Priyanka Rao-Ruiz

Abstract

Memory engram cells, activated by learning, undergo input-specific augmentation in their synaptic connectivity (structure, strength and efficacy) to facilitate memory storage and recall. However, only a subset of these cells is reactivated upon retrieval, indicating potential differences in engram cell synaptic connectivity. In this study, we investigated structural synaptic connectivity differences between reactivated and non-reactivated hippocampal CA1 engram cells under conditions of neutral and aversive contextual memory valence. A combination of eGRASP (enhanced green fluorescent protein (GFP) reconstitution across synaptic partners) and viral TRAP (targeted recombination in activated populations) techniques in mice enabled activity-dependent, input-specific fluorescent tagging of CA3 synapses onto CA1 engram cells during contextual fear conditioning (CFC) or context exposure (CE). After 72 h, mice underwent a retrieval test followed by ex-vivo CA1 engram cell reactivation and spine morphometric analyses. While no differences were observed in the number, or reactivation rate of CA1 engram cells after CFC or CE, experience-dependent differences in spine density and types emerged when comparing reactivated and non-reactivated engram cells within- and between-groups. Specifically, cells encoding neutral contexts exhibit significant decreases in spine density, while cells encoding aversive contexts demonstrate more pronounced shifts towards immature spine types when comparing non-reactivated to reactivated states, respectively. These findings imply that engram cells within a network exhibit diverse paths in structural connectivity depending on the encoded experience and the reactivation status. Future research will focus on elucidating the molecular mechanisms underlying these structural differences.

Unique ID: fens-24/experience-reactivation-status-determine-0475eab1