The fifth session of the NeuroSeS (Translational Neuroscience) lunch meetings took place on 12 November 2019 and was attended by 50 people.

The discussion focused on the theme “Neuronal bases of memory-based decision making” presented by researcher Miguel Remondes.

The following points were highlighted:

1. The decision-making process is a basic cognitive function, on which the survival of all animals depends. However, it is a complex process whose mechanisms are little known.
2. Episodic memory is one of the major drivers of the decision-making process. When we decide, we do so on the basis of information we hold in our memory about prior decisions and the results of those decisions. We mentioned the classic case of patient Henry Molaison, who underwent hippocampal and adjacent structures resection surgery, manifesting an inability to have new memories and to make autonomous decisions.
3. In our laboratory, we model memory acquisition and decision-making behaviours dependent on it in rodents trained to perform behavioural tasks involving memory formation and contingent decision-making. During this period, we recorded neuronal activity in pertinent regions of the circuit responsible for memory formation, entorhinal-hippocampal cortex, and decision-making, medial mesocortex including anterior and midcingulate cortex, and retrosplenial cortex.
4. In addition, we use reversible neuronal manipulation molecular tools such as optogenetics and chemogenetics, testing causal relationships between the said circuits and the rodent’s behaviour.
5. We presented the recently published results describing the anatomy and function of the pathways that channel information from the hippocampus to the medial mesocortex, structured as an Anterior-Posterior morpho-functional gradient, with implications for circuit activity in the active animal.
6. We presented results that will be published soon which demonstrate the need for the entorhinal-hippocampal circuit for the formation of episodic memory in its fundamental aspect, the processing of temporal duration, and the temporal localization of the episodic components.
7. The importance of the articulation between hospital and research institutions for the development of research projects with scientific and clinical impact was consensual, the Lisbon Academic Medical Centre (CAML) being an excellent example of this.

Sources of additional information:

Ferreira-Fernandes, E., Quintino, C., and Remondes, M * (2019). A Gradient of Hippocampal Inputs to the Medial Mesocortex. Cell Reports 29 (2019) pp. 3266-3279

Remondes M * and Wilson M (2015) Slow-gamma rhythms coordinate cingulate cortical responses to hippocampal sharp-wave ripples during choice behavior. Cell Reports 13 (2015) pp. 1327-1335

Remondes M * and Wilson M (2013) Cingulate-hippocampus Coherence and Trajectory Coding in a Sequential Choice Task, Neuron 80(5), 1277-89.

Miguel Remondes,

IMM Researcher

mremondes-brainmaps.weebly.com

The organization of these meetings is the responsibility of Luísa Lopes and Cláudia Faria and has the support of Roche.