Persistent hippocampal traces of lifelong spatial memory
How to prepare an accurate paper press kit? Illustrated guide
J. Wu, M. Meister, C. Lois · DOI: 10.64898/2026.10.30.762948 · Summary page
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A changing hippocampus can still remember
A memory need not depend on an entirely stable neural map. After two days exploring a branching maze, mice retained navigational advantages through repeated 90-day absences over as much as a year. On returning, they explored more efficiently and resumed direct journeys to a reward sooner. Chronic calcium imaging followed the same hippocampal neurons across visits: most changed their preferred locations, yet activity across the population still carried a recognizable trace of the earlier map.
Some features were especially durable. Neurons that shifted their preferred locations tended to retain a preference for the same branching level, preserving an aspect of the maze’s geometry. Better preservation of this tuning accompanied more efficient exploration, while more reliable activity near the reward accompanied earlier direct runs there. The preprint suggests that lasting memory can coexist with substantial cellular change, although these associations do not establish which surviving traces are necessary for remembering.
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