L'espressione dei geni immediati precoci Arc e cFos dopo la codificazione e il consolidamento della memoria di un compito di navigazione noto per i roditori: l'HexMaze

The hippocampus and the neocortex are closely connected in the process of incorporating new information into neural circuits that will eventually lead to long-term memory. However, little is known about how the hippocampus and neocortex are involved in supporting relevant new information encoding when there is previous knowledge present in a structure of a schema. The aim of this study is to analyse how complex memories are built up and updated into a schema of the Hex Maze environment. This thesis focuses on the expression of two activity-related immediate early genes (IEG), Arc and cFos, in two conditions, namely after encoding new information and at the time of retrieval. By analysing the expression of IEG we sought to find out what brain regions show differences in plasticity and activity when updating a mental schema. Moreover, we also investigated the correlation between these different areas within encoding and retrieval conditions. The results show that the expression of cFos is area-specific, depending on the condition of the task (new or old goal location), which was not the case with Arc. Memory related to previous knowledge is not specific for one brain region, but rather a part of a large neuronal network encompassing multiple brain areas.