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CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) is an organizer of higher-order chromatin structure and regulates gene expression. Genetic studies have implicated mutations in CTCF in intellectual disabilities. However, the role of CTCF-mediated chromatin structure in learning and memory is unclear. We show that depletion of CTCF in postmitotic neurons, or depletion in the hippocampus of adult mice through viral-mediated knockout, induces deficits in learning and memory. These deficits in learning and memory at the beginning of adulthood are correlated with impaired long-term potentiation and reduced spine density, with no changes in basal synaptic transmission and dendritic morphogenesis and arborization. Cognitive disabilities are associated with downregulation of cadherin and learning-related genes. In addition, CTCF knockdown attenuates fear-conditioning-induced hippocampal gene expression of key learning genes and loss of long-range interactions at the BDNF and Arc loci. This study thus suggests that CTCF-dependent gene expression regulation and genomic organization are regulators of learning and memory.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2016.11.004 | DOI Listing |
Stroke
September 2025
Brain Language Laboratory, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany (A.-T.P.J., M.R.O., A.S., F.P.).
Background: Intensive language-action therapy treats language deficits and depressive symptoms in chronic poststroke aphasia, yet the underlying neural mechanisms remain underexplored. Long-range temporal correlations (LRTCs) in blood oxygenation level-dependent signals indicate persistence in brain activity patterns and may relate to learning and levels of depression. This observational study investigates blood oxygenation level-dependent LRTC changes alongside therapy-induced language and mood improvements in perisylvian and domain-general brain areas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Comput Neurosci
August 2025
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Viterbi School of Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
Artificial neural networks are limited in the number of patterns that they can store and accurately recall, with capacity constraints arising from factors such as network size, architectural structure, pattern sparsity, and pattern dissimilarity. Exceeding these limits leads to recall errors, eventually leading to catastrophic forgetting, which is a major challenge in continual learning. In this study, we characterize the theoretical maximum memory capacity of single-layer feedforward networks as a function of these parameters.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Genet
August 2025
Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Finance and Economics Big Data Science and Technology, Hunan University of Finance and Economics, Changsha, China.
RNA N4-acetylcytidine (ac4C) is a crucial chemical modification involved in various biological processes, influencing RNA properties and functions. Accurate prediction of RNA ac4C sites is essential for understanding the roles of RNA molecules in gene expression and cellular regulation. While existing methods have made progress in ac4C site prediction, they still struggle with limited accuracy and generalization.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiochem Biophys Rep
June 2025
Department of Public Health, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, China.
Background: Synaptic dysfunction and synapse loss occur in Alzheimer's disease (AD). The current study aimed to identify synaptic-related genes with diagnostic potential for AD.
Methods: Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were overlapped with phenotype-associated module selected through weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA), and synaptic-related genes.
Brain Commun
September 2025
Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study (ADCS), Department of Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
Several studies implicate circadian rhythm disturbances in Alzheimer's disease. However, very little is known about how circadian rhythms are associated with Alzheimer's pathological biomarkers in older adults at early stages of the disease, and how these relationships map onto cognition. This cross-sectional study used 24-h accelerometry data to investigate the relationships between circadian rhythms, amyloid-β (Aβ), tau, and cognition in 68 older adults with objective early cognitive impairment.
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