Astrocyte and L-lactate in the anterior cingulate cortex modulate schema memory and neuronal mitochondrial biogenesis.

Astrocyte-derived L-lactate was shown to confer beneficial effects on synaptic plasticity and cognitive functions. However, how astrocytic G signaling in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) modulates L-lactate levels and schema memory is not clear. Here, using chemogenetic approach and well-established behavioral paradigm, we demonstrate that astrocytic G pathway activation in the ACC causes significant impairments in flavor-place paired associates (PAs) learning, schema formation, and PA memory retrieval in rats.

Erratum: Chemogenetic activation of astrocytes promotes remyelination and restores cognitive deficits in visceral hypersensitive rats.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.

Chemogenetic activation of astrocytes promotes remyelination and restores cognitive deficits in visceral hypersensitive rats.

Using a well-established chronic visceral hypersensitivity (VH) rat model, we characterized the decrease of myelin basic protein, reduced number of mature oligodendrocytes (OLs), and hypomyelination in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). The results of rat gambling test showed impaired decision-making, and the results of electrophysiological studies showed desynchronization in the ACC to basolateral amygdala (BLA) neural circuitry. Astrocytes release various factors that modulate oligodendrocyte progenitor cell proliferation and myelination.

Astrocyte L-Lactate Signaling in the ACC Regulates Visceral Pain Aversive Memory in Rats.

Pain involves both sensory and affective elements. An aspect of the affective dimension of pain is its sustained unpleasantness, characterized by emotional feelings. Pain results from interactions between memory, attentional, and affective brain circuitry, and it has attracted enormous interest in pain research.

Astrocytes in CA1 modulate schema establishment in the hippocampal-cortical neuron network.

Background: Schema, a concept from cognitive psychology used to explain how new information is integrated with previous experience, is a framework of acquired knowledge within associative network structures as biological correlate, which allows new relevant information to be quickly assimilated by parallel cortical encoding in the hippocampus (HPC) and cortex. Previous work demonstrated that myelin generation in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) plays a critical role for dynamic paired association (PA) learning and consolidation, while astrocytes in ACC play a vital role in cognitive decision-making. However, circuit components and mechanism involving HPC-anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) during schema formation remain uncertain.

Suppression of Pain in the Late Phase of Chronic Trigeminal Neuropathic Pain Failed to Rescue the Decision-Making Deficits in Rats.

Trigeminal neuropathic pain (TNP) led to vital cognitive functional deficits such as impaired decision-making abilities in a rat gambling task. Chronic TNP caused hypomyelination in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) associated with decreased synchronization between ACC spikes and basal lateral amygdala (BLA) theta oscillations. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of pain suppression on cognitive impairment in the early or late phases of TNP.

Schema-like learning and memory consolidation acting through myelination.

Memory is a dynamic brain function that is continually processed after encoding. Although psychologic concepts of mental schema are now well established, they have rarely been considered in animal studies. We used a behavior paradigm of multiple flavor-place paired associates (PAs) and showed that memory schema facilitates fast acquisition of new PAs in a single trial.