SUMMARY We report that in the rat hippocampus learning leads to a significant increase in extracellular lactate levels, which derive from glycogen, an energy reserve selectively localized in astrocytes. Astrocytic glycogen breakdown and lactate release are essential for long-term but not short-term memory formation, and for the maintenance of long-term potentiation (LTP) of synaptic strength elicited in-vivo. Disrupting the expression of the astrocytic lactate transporters monocarboxylate transporter 4 (MCT4) or MCT1 causes amnesia, which, like LTP impairment, is rescued by lactate but not equicaloric glucose. Disrupting the expression of the neuronal lactate transporter MCT2 also leads to amnesia that is unaffected by either L-lactate or glucose, suggesting that lactate import into neurons is necessary for long-term memory. Glycogenolysis and astrocytic lactate transporters are also critical for the induction of molecular changes required for memory formation, including the induction of phospho-CREB, Arc and phospho-cofilin. We conclude that astrocyte-neuron lactate transport is required for long-term memory formation.

We report that, in the rat, administering insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II) significantly enhances memory retention and prevents forgetting. Inhibitory avoidance learning leads to an increase in hippocampal expression of IGF-II, which requires the transcription factor CCAAT enhancer binding protein β and is essential for memory consolidation. Furthermore, injections of recombinant IGF-II into the hippocampus after either training or memory retrieval significantly enhance memory retention and prevent forgetting. To be effective, IGF-II needs to be administered within a sensitive period of memory consolidation. IGF-II-dependent memory enhancement requires IGF-II receptors, new protein synthesis, the function of activity-regulated cytoskeletal-associated protein and glycogensynthase kinase 3 (GSK3). Moreover, it correlates with a significant activation of synaptic GSK3β and expression of GluR1 a-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxasoleproprionic acid receptor subunits. In hippocampal slices, IGF-II promotes IGF-II receptor-dependent, persistent long-term potentiation after weak synaptic stimulation. Thus, IGF-II may represent a novel target for cognitive enhancement therapies.

Fear responses can be eliminated through extinction, a procedure involving the presentation of fear-eliciting stimuli without aversive outcomes. Extinction is believed to be mediated by new inhibitory learning that acts to suppress fear expression without erasing the original memory trace. This hypothesis is supported mainly by behavioral data demonstrating that fear can recover following extinction. However, a recent report by Myers and coworkers suggests that extinction conducted immediately after fear learning may erase or prevent the consolidation of the fear memory trace. Since extinction is a major component of nearly all behavioral therapies for human fear disorders, this finding supports the notion that therapeutic intervention beginning very soon after a traumatic event will be more efficacious. Given the importance of this issue, and the controversy regarding immediate versus delayed therapeutic interventions, we examined two fear recovery phenomena in both rats and humans: spontaneous recovery (SR) and reinstatement. We found evidence for SR and reinstatement in both rats and humans even when extinction was conducted immediately after fear learning. Thus, our data do not support the hypothesis that immediate extinction erases the original memory trace, nor do they suggest that a close temporal proximity of therapeutic intervention to the traumatic event might be advantageous. . In a typical experiment, a neutral conditional stimulus (CS), such as a tone or image, is paired in time with an aversive unconditional stimulus (US), often an electrical shock. After conditioning, the CS elicits a fear state consisting of behavioral, autonomic, and endocrine responses.After conditioning, fear of the CS can be reduced or eliminated with an extinction procedure consisting of repeated presentations of the CS without the aversive US. Extinction is believed to induce new inhibitory learning that suppresses fear expression but leaves the original CS-US memory trace intact (for review, see Myers and Davis 2002). Evidence for this comes mainly from behavioral studies demonstrating that CS-elicited fear can return after extinction, an impossibility if extinction caused erasure of the original association. The most commonly cited behavioral phenomena supporting this inhibitory learning hypothesis are spontaneous recovery (SR), reinstatement, and renewal. In SR, CS fear re-emerges after extinction with the passage of time (Pavlov 1927;Baum 1988;Rescorla 2004). In reinstatement, unsignaled exposure to the US after extinction leads to context-dependent return of CS fear (Rescorla and Heth 1975;Bouton and Bolles 1979a;Westbrook et al. 2002). In renewal, CS fear returns when the CS is presented outside of the extinction context (Bouton and Bolles 1979b;Bouton and King 1983).Despite this evidence for fear recovery, some reports suggest that extinction may induce partial or complete erasure of the CS-US memory trace. Molecular and physiological studies indicate that extinction may depend on phosphatase activity that reverses n...

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability characterized by impairments in social interaction and repetitive behavior, and is also associated with cognitive deficits. There is no current treatment that can ameliorate most of the ASD symptomatology; thus, identifying novel therapies is urgently needed. We used male BTBR /J (BTBR) mice, a model that reproduces most of the core behavioral phenotypes of ASD, to test the effects of systemic administration of insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II), a polypeptide that crosses the blood-brain barrier and acts as a cognitive enhancer. We show that systemic IGF-II treatments reverse the typical defects in social interaction, cognitive/executive functions, and repetitive behaviors reflective of ASD-like phenotypes. In BTBR mice, IGF-II, via IGF-II receptor, but not via IGF-I receptor, reverses the abnormal levels of the AMPK-mTOR-S6K pathway and of active translation at synapses. Thus, IGF-II may represent a novel potential therapy for ASD. Currently, there is no effective treatment for autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a developmental disability affecting a high number of children. Using a mouse model that expresses most of the key core as well as associated behavioral deficits of ASD, that are, social, cognitive, and repetitive behaviors, we report that a systemic administration of the polypeptide insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II) reverses all these deficits. The effects of IGF-II occur via IGF-II receptors, and not IGF-I receptors, and target both basal and learning-dependent molecular abnormalities found in several ASD mice models, including those of identified genetic mutations. We suggest that IGF-II represents a potential novel therapeutic target for ASD.

To treat cognitive disorders in humans, new effective therapies that can be easily delivered systemically are needed. Previous studies showed that a bilateral injection of insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II) into the dorsal hippocampus of rats or mice enhances fear memories and facilitates fear extinction. Here, we report that, in mice, systemic treatments with IGF-II given before training significantly enhance the retention and persistence of several types of working, short-term and long-term memories, including fear conditioning, object recognition, object placement, social recognition, and spatial reference memory. IGF-II-mediated memory enhancement does not alter memory flexibility or the ability for new learning and also occurs when IGF-II treatment is given in concert with memory retrieval. Thus IGF-II may represent a potentially important and effective treatment for enhancing human cognitive and executive functions.

Highlights d Hippocampal Dopamine 2 Receptor (hD2R) neurons are activated by food cues d hD2R neurons connect with the entorhinal cortex (LEC) and the septal area (SA) d The LEC-hD2R-SA circuit decreases food intake in mice d hD2R cells activation influences food-place, but not objectplace, associations

Recent work has reported that the insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2) promotes memory enhancement. Furthermore, impaired insulin or IGF1 functions have been suggested to play a role in the pathogenesis of neurodegeneration and cognitive impairments, hence implicating the insulin/IGF system as an important target for cognitive enhancement and/or the development of novel treatments against cognitive disorders. Here, we tested the effect of intracerebral injections of IGF1, IGF2, or insulin on memory consolidation and persistence in rats. We found that a bilateral injection of insulin into the dorsal hippocampus transiently enhances hippocampal-dependent memory and an injection of IGF1 has no effect. None of the three peptides injected into the amygdala affected memories critically engaging this region. Together with previous data on IGF2, these results indicate that IGF2 produces the most potent and persistent effect as a memory enhancer on hippocampal-dependent memories. We suggest that the memory-enhancing effects of insulin and IGF2 are likely mediated by distinct mechanisms.

Stress has pleiotropic physiologic effects, but the neural circuits linking stress to these responses are not well understood. Here, we describe a novel population of lateral septum neurons expressing neurotensin (LSNts) in mice that are selectively tuned to specific types of stress. LSNts neurons increase their activity during active escape, responding to stress when flight is a viable option, but not when associated with freezing or immobility. Chemogenetic activation of LSNts neurons decreases food intake and body weight, without altering locomotion and anxiety. LSNts neurons co-express several molecules including Glp1r (glucagon-like peptide one receptor) and manipulations of Glp1r signaling in the LS recapitulates the behavioral effects of LSNts activation. Activation of LSNts terminals in the lateral hypothalamus (LH) also decreases food intake. These results show that LSNts neurons are selectively tuned to active escape stress and can reduce food consumption via effects on hypothalamic pathways.