Image of the Day: Synchronized Neurons

Calcium dynamics in the mouse hippocampus show silent neurons (in blue) alongside highly active neurons (in yellow and red) that synchronize their activity in response to foot-shock conditioning.

UNIVERSITY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

Hippocampal neuron activity coalesces into a coordinated firing pattern as memories form in the mouse brain, according to a study published on January 15 in The FASEB Journal. The authors used fear conditioning to produce “activity synchronization” in neurons that was correlated with freezing behavior, a process they believe “is critical for trace memory formation and retrieval,” they write in their study.

“There are tens of millions of neurons in the hippocampus but only a small fraction of them are involved in this learning process,” says University of New Hampshire neurobiologist and coauthor Xuanmao Chen in a press release. “Before engaging in Pavlovian conditioning, these neurons are highly active, almost chaotic, without much coordination with...