Inactivation of the anterior cingulate reveals enhanced reliance on cortical networks for remote spatial memory retrieval after sequential memory processing.

One system consolidation model suggests that as time passes, ensembles of cortical neurons form strong connections to represent remote memories. In this model, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) serves as a cortical region that represents remote memories. However, there is debate as to whether remote spatial memories go through this systems consolidation process and come to rely on the ACC.

The impact of multiple memory formation on dendritic complexity in the hippocampus and anterior cingulate cortex assessed at recent and remote time points.

Consolidation processes, involving synaptic and systems level changes, are suggested to stabilize memories once they are formed. At the synaptic level, dendritic structural changes are associated with long-term memory storage. At the systems level, memory storage dynamics between the hippocampus and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) may be influenced by the number of sequentially encoded memories.

The use of sequential hippocampal-dependent and -non-dependent tasks to study the activation profile of the anterior cingulate cortex during recent and remote memory tests.

Recent findings suggest that as time passes, cortical networks become recruited for memory storage. In animal models, this has been studied by exposing rodents to one task, allowing them to form a memory representation for the task then waiting different periods of time to determine, either through brain imaging or region-specific inactivation, the location of the memory representation. A number of reports show that 30 days after a memory has been encoded, it comes to be stored in cortical areas such as the anterior cingulate cortex.

Estradiol treatment in preadolescent females enhances adolescent spatial memory and differentially modulates hippocampal region-specific phosphorylated ERK labeling.

Estrogen levels in rats are positively correlated with enhanced memory function and hippocampal dendritic spine density. There is much less work on the long-term effects of estradiol manipulation in preadolescent rats. The present work examined how injections of estradiol during postnatal days 19-22 (p19-22; preadolescence) affected water maze performance and hippocampal phosphorylated ERK labeling.

Enhanced adolescent learning and hippocampal axonal projections following preadolescent spatial exposure to a water or dry maze.

The present work sought to determine whether preadolescent exposure to a different task in the same spatial environment would lead to enhancement of water-maze performance and changes in hippocampal connectivity. Separate groups of preadolescent (p16-p26) Long Evans rats (LER) were exposed to the same room and arena using either a water-maze (WM) or a dry-maze (DM), while a third group received no exposure to the spatial cues (NT) but were handled. Three weeks later, rats were tested on the WM or DM task in the same room where preadolescent exposure took place.

Effect of juvenile pretraining on adolescent structural hippocampal attributes as a substrate for enhanced spatial performance.

Research has demonstrated that Long-Evans rats (LER) display superior mnemonic function over Wistar rats (WR). These differences are correlated with endogenous and input-dependent properties of the hippocampus. The present work sought to determine if juvenile pretraining might enhance hippocampal structural markers and if this would be associated with spatial processing improvements.