Fear learning induces α7-nicotinic acetylcholine receptor-mediated astrocytic responsiveness that is required for memory persistence

Zhang, Kuan; Forster, Rita; He, Wenjing; Liao, Xiang; Li, Jin; Yang, Chuanyan; Qin, Han; Wang, Meng; Ding, Ran; Li, Ruijie; Jian, Tingliang; Wang, Yanhong; Zhang, Jianxiong; Yang, Zhiqi; Jin, Wenjun; Zhang, Yonghai; Qin, Song; Lu, Yacheng; Chen, Tao; Stobart, Jillian; Weber, Bruno; Adelsberger, Helmuth; Konnerth, Arthur und Chen, Xiaowei (2021): Fear learning induces α7-nicotinic acetylcholine receptor-mediated astrocytic responsiveness that is required for memory persistence. In: Nature Neuroscience, Bd. 24, Nr. 12: S. 1686-1698

Abstract

Memory persistence is a fundamental cognitive process for guiding behaviors and is considered to rely mostly on neuronal and synaptic plasticity. Whether and how astrocytes contribute to memory persistence is largely unknown. Here, by using two-photon Ca2+ imaging in head-fixed mice and fiber photometry in freely moving mice, we show that aversive sensory stimulation activates alpha 7-nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) in a subpopulation of astrocytes in the auditory cortex. We demonstrate that fear learning causes the de novo induction of sound-evoked Ca2+ transients in these astrocytes. The astrocytic responsiveness persisted over days along with fear memory and disappeared in animals that underwent extinction of learned freezing behavior. Conditional genetic deletion of alpha 7-nAChRs in astrocytes significantly impaired fear memory persistence. We conclude that learning-acquired, alpha 7-nAChR-dependent astrocytic responsiveness is an integral part of the cellular substrate underlying memory persistence. Zhang et al. show that astrocytes develop responses to fear-conditioned auditory stimuli mediated by alpha 7-nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) and that astrocytic alpha 7-nAChRs in the auditory cortex are required for memory persistence and retrieval.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Medizin > Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy)
• Themengebiete: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften > 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
• Sprache: Englisch
• DFG: Gefördert durch die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - 390857198