Temporal binding function of dorsal CA1 is critical for declarative memory formation

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1619657114
• Publication Date: 2017-09-06T00:40:19Z
• Authors: Azza Sellami; Alice Shaam Al Abed; Laurent Brayda-Bruno; Nicole Etchamendy; Stéphane Valério; Marie Oulé; Laura Pantaléon; Valérie Lamothe; Mylène Potier; Katy Bernard; Maritza Jabourian; Cyril Herry; Nicole Mons; Pier-Vincenzo Piazza; Howard Eichenbaum; Aline Marighetto
• Keywords: Male; Mice, Inbred C57BL; 0301 basic medicine; Aging; Memory Disorders; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Memory; Animals; CA1 Region, Hippocampal

Significance

Our ability to form declarative memories depends on the hippocampus, and this capacity degrades with age. To identify the critical determinants of this age-associated memory loss, we explored the relationships between two functions of the hippocampus known to be age-sensitive, temporal binding and relational organization. We found that ( i ) temporal binding relies on the activity of the dorsal (d)CA1 subfield across temporal gaps between events; and ( ii ) loss in this dCA1-dependent function, through ensuing disruption of relational organization, is the primary cause of declarative memory loss occurring in aging.