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MIT Triggers Total Fear Recall in Mice

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CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 27, 2012 — Be afraid, be very afraid. An optogenetic technique that uses light to target specific populations of neurons in the brain has been used to make mice recall fear memories and respond by freezing in a defensive, immobile crouch. Using optogenetics, researchers at MIT sought to learn whether memory traces, known as memory engrams, are conceptual or if they are a physical network of neurons in the brain. The technique enabled them to show that memories reside in specific brain cells, and that activating a small fraction of brain cells can recall an entire memory. “We...Read full article

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    Published: March 2012
    Glossary
    optogenetics
    A discipline that combines optics and genetics to enable the use of light to stimulate and control cells in living tissue, typically neurons, which have been genetically modified to respond to light. Only the cells that have been modified to include light-sensitive proteins will be under control of the light. The ability to selectively target cells gives researchers precise control. Using light to control the excitation, inhibition and signaling pathways of specific cells or groups of...
    photonics
    The technology of generating and harnessing light and other forms of radiant energy whose quantum unit is the photon. The science includes light emission, transmission, deflection, amplification and detection by optical components and instruments, lasers and other light sources, fiber optics, electro-optical instrumentation, related hardware and electronics, and sophisticated systems. The range of applications of photonics extends from energy generation to detection to communications and...
    Americasartificial reactivation of memoriesBiophotonicsbrain cellschannelrhodopsin-2ChR2fear recallfear recall in micehippocampuslight-activated proteinMassachusettsmemory engramsMITNational Institutes of Healthneuron networkoptical fibersoptogeneticsphotonicsResearch & TechnologyRiken Brain Science InstituteSensors & DetectorsSteve RamirezSusumu TonegawaXu Liu

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