Selective Disruption of Perineuronal Nets in Mice Lacking Crtl1 is Sufficient to Make Fear Memories Susceptible to Erasure.

ABSTRACT: The ability to store, retrieve, and extinguish memories of adverse experiences is an essential skill for animals' survival. The cellular and molecular factors that underlie such processes are only partially known. Using chondroitinase ABC treatment targeting chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPGs), previous studies showed that the maturation of the extracellular matrix makes fear memory resistant to deletion. Mice lacking the cartilage link protein Crtl1 (Crtl1-KO mice) display normal CSPG levels but impaired CSPG condensation in perineuronal nets (PNNs). Thus, we asked whether the presence of PNNs in the adult brain is responsible for the appearance of persistent fear memories by investigating fear extinction in Crtl1-KO mice. We found that mutant mice displayed fear memory erasure afte

SUBMITTER: Poli A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10224842 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature