Adult-born neurons (ABNs) in the dentate gyrus are important for memory formation. Monitoring calcium activity in these neurons during and after a fear learning task showed that most young ABNs (4 weeks old or younger) that were sparsely active during learning were also active (at an even lower level) during post-learning REM sleep. Optogenetic silencing of these neurons during REM sleep reduced fear memory, suggesting that activity of ABNs during REM sleep contributes to memory consolidation.
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Kumar, D. et al. Sparse activity of hippocampal adult-born neurons during REM sleep is necessary for memory consolidation. Neuron https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2020.05.008 (2020)
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Lewis, S. Sleeping like a newborn (neuron). Nat Rev Neurosci 21, 400 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-020-0339-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41583-020-0339-6
