Topic: inhibitory synaptic plasticity

Experiences are encoded in sparse neuronal ensembles that can be defined by the transcription activation of immediate-early genes such as Fos and Npas4. The Fos+ and Npas4+ neuronal ensembles within an engram have been reported to recruit distinct synaptic plasticity mechanisms. However, it remains unknown whether and how Fos- and Npas4-mediated synaptic plasticity support memory consolidation. Here we provide experimental and computational evidence that Fos+ and Npas4+ neuronal ensembles coordinate different excitatory and inhibitory synaptic plasticity mechanisms to promote memory consolidat

Episodic memories are encoded by sparse populations of neurons activated during an experience. These neural ensembles constitute memory engrams that are both necessary and sufficient for inducing recall even long after memory acquisition. This suggests that following encoding, engrams are stabilized to support reliable memory retrieval. However, little is known about the temporal evolution of engrams over the course of memory consolidation or how it impacts mnemonic properties. Here we employed computational and experimental approaches to examine how the composition and selectivity of engrams