title: Viral-mediated expression of a constitutively active form of CREB in the dentate gyrus does not induce abnormally enduring fear memory.
abstract: Increasing CREB-dependent transcription in dentate gyrus (DG) granule cells in vivo using viral-mediated expression of a constitutively active form of CREB (CREBCA) is sufficient to enhance contextual fear memory but whether this treatment renders memory abnormally enduring is unknown. Here we confirm that over-expressing CREBCA in the DG increases retention of contextual fear conditioning (CFC) and show that this memory decays normally. Specifically, the retention scores of CREBCA mice are significantly higher than those of GFP-infected controls 24h after the conditioning, but match them after a longer exposure session and are still in the same range 48 h later. Our findings provide evidence that boosting selectively CREB activity in the DG promotes the formation of a stronger memory trace but does not increase its resistance to extinguish.
authors.affiliation: Cell Biology and Neurobiology Institute, C.N.R.-National Research Council, 00143 Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Gisella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vetere
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Marchetti
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Benevento
authors.forename: Elisiana
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tafi
authors.forename: Hélène
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Marie
authors.forename: Martine
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ammassari-Teule
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000502:physiology; D017362:Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D018891:Dentate Gyrus / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology* / Q000821:virology; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology*; D005822:Genetic Vectors / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000235:genetics; D007276:Injections, Intraventricular; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology / Q000821:virology; D012845:Sindbis Virus; D014162:Transfection / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D017362:Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein