加拿大病童医院Sheena A. Josselyn、美国麻省理工学院Susumu Tonegawa合作总结了记忆印迹的研究进展。相关综述论文发表在2020年1月3日出版的《科学》上。

研究人员回顾了印迹研究的最新进展，包括对印迹存在证据的评估、印迹内在兴奋性和突触可塑性的重要性以及印迹寿命。总之，这些发现逐渐地将印迹定义为记忆的基本单位。

据介绍，1904年，理查德·西蒙（Richard Semon）引入了“印迹”一词来描述用于存储记忆的神经基质。Semon提出，一段经历可以激活一群离线、存在持续的化学和/或物理变化的细胞亚群，成为一个印迹。这一印迹的后续重新激活会引发记忆检索。尽管在Semon一生中，他的贡献在很大程度上被忽略了，但新技术使得研究人员能够在单个神经元水平上成像和操纵大脑，从而重新激发了印迹研究。

附：英文原文

Title: Memory engrams: Recalling the past and imagining the future

Author: Sheena A. Josselyn, Susumu Tonegawa

Issue&Volume: 2020/01/03

Abstract: In 1904, Richard Semon introduced the term “engram” to describe the neural substrate for storing memories. An experience, Semon proposed, activates a subset of cells that undergo off-line, persistent chemical and/or physical changes to become an engram. Subsequent reactivation of this engram induces memory retrieval. Although Semon’s contributions were largely ignored in his lifetime, new technologies that allow researchers to image and manipulate the brain at the level of individual neurons has reinvigorated engram research. We review recent progress in studying engrams, including an evaluation of evidence for the existence of engrams, the importance of intrinsic excitability and synaptic plasticity in engrams, and the lifetime of an engram. Together, these findings are beginning to define an engram as the basic unit of memory.

DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw4325

Source: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/367/6473/eaaw4325