A behavioral memory’s lifetime represents multiple molecular lifetimes, suggesting the necessity for a self-perpetuating signal. One candidate is DNA methylation, a transcriptional repression mechanism that maintains cellular memory throughout development. We found that persistent, gene-specific cortical hypermethylation is induced in rats by a single, hippocampus-dependent associative learning experience and pharmacologic inhibition of methylation one month after learning disrupted remote memory. We propose that the adult brain utilizes DNA methylation to preserve long-lasting memories.

Reorganization of the actin cytoskeleton is essential for synaptic plasticity and memory formation. Presently, the mechanisms that trigger actin dynamics during these brain processes are poorly understood. In this study, we show that myosin II motor activity is downstream of LTP induction and is necessary for the emergence of specialized actin structures that stabilize an early phase of LTP. We also demonstrate that myosin II activity contributes importantly to an actin-dependent process that underlies memory consolidation. Pharmacological treatments that promote actin polymerization reversed the effects of a myosin II inhibitor on LTP and memory. We conclude that myosin II motors regulate plasticity by imparting mechanical forces onto the spine actin cytoskeleton in response to synaptic stimulation. These cytoskeletal forces trigger the emergence of actin structures that stabilize synaptic plasticity. Our studies provide a novel mechanical framework for understanding cytoskeletal dynamics associated with synaptic plasticity and memory formation.

The superiority of spaced vs. massed training is a fundamental feature of learning. Here, we describe unanticipated timing rules for the production of long-term potentiation (LTP) in adult rat hippocampal slices that can account for one temporal segment of the spaced trials phenomenon. Successive bouts of naturalistic theta burst stimulation of field CA1 afferents markedly enhanced previously saturated LTP if spaced apart by 1 h or longer, but were without effect when shorter intervals were used. Analyses of Factin-enriched spines to identify potentiated synapses indicated that the added LTP obtained with delayed theta trains involved recruitment of synapses that were "missed" by the first stimulation bout. Single spine glutamate-uncaging experiments confirmed that less than half of the spines in adult hippocampus are primed to undergo plasticity under baseline conditions, suggesting that intrinsic variability among individual synapses imposes a repetitive presentation requirement for maximizing the percentage of potentiated connections. We propose that a combination of local diffusion from initially modified spines coupled with much later membrane insertion events dictate that the repetitions be widely spaced. Thus, the synaptic mechanisms described here provide a neurobiological explanation for one component of a poorly understood, ubiquitous aspect of learning.A n extensive body of experimental work indicates that periodic exposure to the same material results in better retention than a single "cramming" session. Although this distributed practice effect was first recognized in late 19th century (1-3), and has since been the subject of a very large psychological literature (4), the neurobiological processes that give rise to the phenomenon are poorly understood. Activity-dependent synaptic plasticity, and, in particular, long-term potentiation (LTP) of glutamatergic transmission, is thought to underlie rapid storage of new information (5, 6). Therefore, it is surprising that little experimental attention has been given to the possibility that specialized features of LTP may contribute to the spaced trials (distributed practice) effect. This likely reflects the lack of data indicating that the substrates of the potentiation effect include properties that are engaged, or enhanced, only by widely spaced stimulation episodes. Specifically, several types of studies point to the conclusion that the elaborate processes yielding fully developed LTP reach completion within 10-15 min (5, 7, 8); these findings do not include results suggestive of a delayed capacity for triggering additional changes to already potentiated synapses. There is considerable evidence for a later LTP stabilization step involving protein synthesis (9), but the effects of this on subsequent plasticity involve inputs other than those already expressing potentiation (10).Here, we describe a set of mechanisms and timing rules in hippocampus that result in widely spaced episodes of theta burst stimulation (TBS) generating a much greater degree of LT...

The epigenome is uniquely positioned as a point of convergence, integrating multiple intracellular signaling cascades into a cohesive gene expression profile necessary for long-term behavioral change. The last decade of neuroepigenetic research has primarily focused on learning-induced changes in DNA methylation and chromatin modifications. Numerous studies have independently demonstrated the importance of epigenetic modifications in memory formation and retention as well as Hebbian plasticity. However, how these mechanisms operate in the context of other forms of plasticity is largely unknown. In this review, we examine evidence for epigenetic regulation of Hebbian plasticity. We then discuss how non-Hebbian forms of plasticity, such as intrinsic plasticity and synaptic scaling, may also be involved in producing the cellular adaptations necessary for learning-related behavioral change. Furthermore, we consider the likely roles for transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms in the regulation of these plasticities. In doing so, we aim to expand upon the idea that epigenetic mechanisms are critical regulators of both Hebbian and non-Hebbian forms of plasticity that ultimately drive learning and memory.