The field of learning and memory has largely focused their efforts on memory formation, deeming the act of forgetting as a necessary and unavoidable error of the brain's storage system. However, recent studies show that forgetting might be a purposeful mechanism with dedicated molecular pathways. This has opened new avenues for the study of memory processes and their manipulation. This review article focuses on the proposed molecular pathways that could underlie forgetting (postsynaptic glutamate receptors and their subunit composition, structural proteins, kinases, phosphatases, and neuromodulators), and reviews the latest contributions to this topic. The discussed molecular pathways are then related to synaptic depotentiation, which is a proposed mechanism underlying forgetting.

中文翻译：

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遗忘的分子机制

学习和记忆领域主要致力于记忆形成，认为遗忘行为是大脑存储系统的必要且不可避免的错误。然而，最近的研究表明，遗忘可能是一种具有专用分子途径的有目的的机制。这为研究记忆过程及其操纵开辟了新途径。这篇综述文章重点介绍了可能导致遗忘的分子途径（突触后谷氨酸受体及其亚基组成、结构蛋白、激酶、磷酸酶和神经调节剂），并回顾了对该主题的最新贡献。所讨论的分子途径然后与突触去增强有关，这是一种建议的遗忘机制。