Labelling and optical erasure of synaptic memory traces in the motor cortex

Akiko Hayashi-Takagi (), Sho Yagishita, Mayumi Nakamura, Fukutoshi Shirai, Yi I. Wu, Amanda L. Loshbaugh, Brian Kuhlman, Klaus M. Hahn and Haruo Kasai ()
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Akiko Hayashi-Takagi: Laboratory of Structural Physiology, Center for Disease Biology and Integrative Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo
Sho Yagishita: Laboratory of Structural Physiology, Center for Disease Biology and Integrative Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo
Mayumi Nakamura: Laboratory of Structural Physiology, Center for Disease Biology and Integrative Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo
Fukutoshi Shirai: Laboratory of Structural Physiology, Center for Disease Biology and Integrative Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo
Yi I. Wu: Center for Cell Analysis and Modeling, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut 06032, USA
Amanda L. Loshbaugh: Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
Brian Kuhlman: Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
Klaus M. Hahn: Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, USA
Haruo Kasai: Laboratory of Structural Physiology, Center for Disease Biology and Integrative Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo

Nature, 2015, vol. 525, issue 7569, 333-338

Abstract: Abstract Dendritic spines are the major loci of synaptic plasticity and are considered as possible structural correlates of memory. Nonetheless, systematic manipulation of specific subsets of spines in the cortex has been unattainable, and thus, the link between spines and memory has been correlational. We developed a novel synaptic optoprobe, AS-PaRac1 (activated synapse targeting photoactivatable Rac1), that can label recently potentiated spines specifically, and induce the selective shrinkage of AS-PaRac1-containing spines. In vivo imaging of AS-PaRac1 revealed that a motor learning task induced substantial synaptic remodelling in a small subset of neurons. The acquired motor learning was disrupted by the optical shrinkage of the potentiated spines, whereas it was not affected by the identical manipulation of spines evoked by a distinct motor task in the same cortical region. Taken together, our results demonstrate that a newly acquired motor skill depends on the formation of a task-specific dense synaptic ensemble.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1038/nature15257

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