Locus coeruleus and dopaminergic consolidation of everyday memory.

ABSTRACT: The retention of episodic-like memory is enhanced, in humans and animals, when something novel happens shortly before or after encoding. Using an everyday memory task in mice, we sought the neurons mediating this dopamine-dependent novelty effect, previously thought to originate exclusively from the tyrosine-hydroxylase-expressing (TH⁺) neurons in the ventral tegmental area. Here we report that neuronal firing in the locus coeruleus is especially sensitive to environmental novelty, locus coeruleus TH⁺ neurons project more profusely than ventral tegmental area TH⁺ neurons to the hippocampus, optogenetic activation of locus coeruleus TH⁺ neurons mimics the novelty effect, and this novelty-associated memory enhancement is unaffected by ventral tegme

SUBMITTER: Takeuchi T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5161591 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature