RNA from Trained<i>Aplysia</i>Can Induce an Epigenetic Engram for Long-Term Sensitization in Untrained<i>Aplysia</i>

Bédécarrats, Alexis; Chen, Shanping; Pearce, Kaycey; Cai, Diancai; Glanzman, David L.

doi:10.1523/eneuro.0038-18.2018

Cited by 84 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…As with the Queenan et al (2017) study suggesting that LTP is not mediated by persistent synaptic changes, a similar suggestion has been made for some forms of learning in Aplysia. Chen et al (2014) and Bedecarrats et al (2018) claim that the synaptic changes investigated in detail in Aplysia are an epiphenomenon of cellular changes at the cell body, and that learning can be transferred by RNA from trained to untrained animals (this revives the 1960′s ideas of McConnell who suggested learning transfer by RNA in flatworms (see Smalheiser et al 2001;Rilling 1996).…”

Section: Examples Of Psychoneural Reduction-the Cellular Basis Of Memorymentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Requirements for explaining circuit function have been outlined by scientists (e.g. Yuste 2008; Koch 2012; Braganza and Beck 2018) and philosophers (Bechtel and Richardson 1993;Bechtel 2008;Machamer et al 2000;Silva and Bickle 2009; Piccinini and Craver 2011; Craver and Kaplan 2018). These outlines repeat but don't refer to criteria previously applied to neurophysiological analyses of invertebrate and lower vertebrate model systems (Bullock 1976;Selverston 1980;Getting 1989).…”

Section: Metascientific Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Psychoneural reduction: a perspective from neural circuits

Parker

2019

Biol Philos

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Psychoneural reduction has been debated extensively in the philosophy of neuroscience. In this article I will evaluate metascientific approaches that claim direct molecular and cellular explanations of cognitive functions. I will initially consider the issues involved in linking cellular properties to behaviour from the general perspective of neural circuits. These circuits that integrate the molecular and cellular components underlying cognition and behaviour, making consideration of circuit properties relevant to reductionist debates. I will then apply this general perspective to specific systems where psychoneural reduction has been claimed, namely hippocampal long-term potentiation and the Aplysia gill-withdrawal reflex.

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Section: Examples Of Psychoneural Reduction-the Cellular Basis Of Memorymentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Metascientific Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

Psychoneural reduction: a perspective from neural circuits

Parker

2019

Biol Philos

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“…In addition to Trettenbrein’s ( 2016 ) critique, models of learning and memory based on non-synaptic plasticity have been proposed (Mozzachiodi and Byrne, 2010 ; Cacha et al, 2017 ), but these appear to involve neuromodulatory actions which alter the parameters of LTP and LTD, and thus the efficacy of synaptic plasticity. In addition, Arshavsky ( 2006 , 2017 ), Chen et al ( 2014 ) and Bèdècarrats et al ( 2018 ) have advocated a genomic rather than a synaptic theory of memory and argue that changes in individual neurons rather than interconnected neural networks form the basis of memory. Bèdècarrats et al ( 2018 ) demonstrated that the transfer of RNA from trained to naïve animals is sufficient to induce behavioral correlates of memory and that these changes are dependent on DNA methylation.…”

Section: Reconciliation Of the Differences Between Physiologists And mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, Arshavsky ( 2006 , 2017 ), Chen et al ( 2014 ) and Bèdècarrats et al ( 2018 ) have advocated a genomic rather than a synaptic theory of memory and argue that changes in individual neurons rather than interconnected neural networks form the basis of memory. Bèdècarrats et al ( 2018 ) demonstrated that the transfer of RNA from trained to naïve animals is sufficient to induce behavioral correlates of memory and that these changes are dependent on DNA methylation. However, the modified expression of these gene products likely serves to change synaptic weights, an idea supported by Bèdècarrats et al’s ( 2018 ) demonstration of an increase in sensory neuron excitability following RNA injection.…”

Section: Reconciliation Of the Differences Between Physiologists And mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Synaptic Theory of Memory: A Historical Survey and Reconciliation of Recent Opposition

Langille

Brown

2018

Front. Syst. Neurosci.

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Trettenbrein (2016) has argued that the concept of the synapse as the locus of memory is outdated and has made six critiques of this concept. In this article, we examine these six critiques and suggest that the current theories of the neurobiology of memory and the empirical data indicate that synaptic activation is the first step in a chain of cellular and biochemical events that lead to memories formed in cell assemblies and neural networks that rely on synaptic modification for their formation. These neural networks and their modified synaptic connections can account for the cognitive basis of learning and memory and for memory deterioration in neurological disorders. We first discuss Hebb’s (1949) theory that synaptic change and the formation of cell assemblies and phase sequences can link neurophysiology to cognitive processes. We then examine each of Trettenbrein’s (2016) critiques of the synaptic theory in light of Hebb’s theories and recent empirical data. We examine the biochemical basis of memory formation and the necessity of synaptic modification to form the neural networks underlying learning and memory. We then examine the use of Hebb’s theories of synaptic change and cell assemblies for integrating neurophysiological and cognitive conceptions of learning and memory. We conclude with an examination of the applications of the Hebb synapse and cell assembly theories to the study of the neuroscience of learning and memory, the development of computational models of memory and the construction of “intelligent” robots. We conclude that the synaptic theory of memory has not met its demise, but is essential to our understanding of the neural basis of memory, which has two components: synaptic plasticity and intrinsic plasticity.

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“…Secondly, the dynamical processes related to memory dynamics are governed by biochemical processes, such as protein networks and chromatin modifications. Some of these processes take part as the neural and molecular basis of behavior, in addition to learning (25)(26)(27)(28)(29) . Thirdly, neurons interact by exploiting dozens of neuromodulators, neuropeptides, diffusible molecules, hormones and RNA, whose effect is not restricted to learning (30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41) .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Distributed Engram

Feldesh

2019

Preprint

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Neural connectionism is a common theoretical abstraction of biological neural networks (1-3) and a basis for common artificial neural networks (4) . Yet, it is clear that connectionism abstracts out much of the biological phenomena significant and necessary for many cognitive-driven behaviors, in particular intra-neuronal and inter-neuronal biochemical processes (5-8) . This paper presents a model which adds an abstraction of these processes to a standard connectionism-based model. Specifically, a sub-system determines the synaptic weights. The resulting network has plastic synapses during non-learning-related behavior, in sharp contrast with most common models in which synapses are fixed outside of a learning-phase. Some synapses introduce plasticity that is causally related with behavior, while in others the plasticity randomly fluctuates, in correspondence with recent data (9,10) . In this model the memory engram is distributed over the biochemical system, in addition to the synapses. The model yields better performance in memory-related tasks compared to a standard recurrent neural network trained with backpropagation.

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RNA from TrainedAplysiaCan Induce an Epigenetic Engram for Long-Term Sensitization in UntrainedAplysia

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Cited by 84 publications

References 65 publications

Psychoneural reduction: a perspective from neural circuits

Psychoneural reduction: a perspective from neural circuits

The Synaptic Theory of Memory: A Historical Survey and Reconciliation of Recent Opposition

The Distributed Engram

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