Preservation of a remote fear memory requires new myelin formation

Experience-dependent myelination is hypothesized to shape neural circuit function and subsequent behavioral output. Using a contextual fear memory task in mice, we demonstrate that fear learning induces oligodendrocyte precursor cells to proliferate and differentiate into myelinating oligodendrocytes in the medial prefrontal cortex. Transgenic animals that cannot form new myelin exhibit deficient remote, but not recent, fear memory recall....