Excavatolide-B Enhances Contextual Memory Retrieval via Repressing the Delayed Rectifier Potassium Current in the Hippocampus.

Memory retrieval dysfunction is a symptom of schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and absence epilepsy (AE), as well as an early sign of Alzheimer's disease. To date, few drugs have been reported to enhance memory retrieval. Here, we found that a coral-derived natural product, excavatolide-B (Exc-B), enhances contextual memory retrieval in both wild-type and mice via repressing the delayed rectifier potassium current, thus lowering the threshold for action potential initiation and enhancing induction of long-term potentiation (LTP).

The Activating Transcription Factor 3 () Homozygous Knockout Mice Exhibit Enhanced Conditioned Fear and Down Regulation of Hippocampal .

The genetic and molecular basis underlying fear memory formation is a key theme in anxiety disorder research. Because activating transcription factor 3 () is induced under stress conditions and is highly expressed in the hippocampus, we hypothesize that plays a role in fear memory formation. We used fear conditioning and various other paradigms to test knockout mice and study the role of in processing fear memory.

In vivo knockdown of hippocampal miR-132 expression impairs memory acquisition of trace fear conditioning.

MicroRNA-132 (miR-132) has been demonstrated to affect multiple neuronal functions, including dendritic growth and spinogenesis in cultured neurons and brain slices, as well as learning behavior of animals. However, its role in acquisition of temporal-associated memory remains unclear. In this study, we demonstrated that the mature miR-132 level in mouse hippocampus was significantly increased at 30 min after trace fear conditioning, a type of temporal-associated learning, and returned to baseline values in 2 h.