Context memory formed in medial prefrontal cortex during infancy enhances learning in adulthood.

ABSTRACT: Adult behavior is commonly thought to be shaped by early-life experience, although episodes experienced during infancy appear to be forgotten. Exposing male rats during infancy to discrete spatial experience we show that these rats in adulthood are significantly better at forming a spatial memory than control rats without such infantile experience. We moreover show that the adult rats' improved spatial memory capability is mainly based on memory for context information during the infantile experiences. Infantile spatial experience increased c-Fos activity at memory testing during adulthood in the prelimbic medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), but not in the hippocampus. Inhibiting prelimbic mPFC at testing during adulthood abolished the enhancing effect of infantile spatial experience on learn

SUBMITTER: Contreras MP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10954687 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature