This research investigated how blocking protein synthesis with anisomycin disrupted hippocampal neural dynamics underlying memory consolidation. We tracked neural activity using calcium before (2 days), during, and after (1, 2, and 7 days after) memory formation and consolidation using calcium imaging. We blocked memory consolidation in a subset of mice via systemic injections of the protein synthesis inhibitor anisomycin following fear conditioning. We examined place field remapping and stability, the formation of freeze-predictive hippocampal ensemble activity, and analyzed how blocking memory consolidation influenced these two phenomena.
The research that produced this data tested how sleep loss impacted the phenomena of reactivation and replay, which occurs when recently-learned information is reactivated/replayed during post-learning sleep/rest.
