Figure 1.

Activating positive memory engrams rescues depression-related behavior. a Behavior schedule and groups used. b–e, Optical reactivation of dentate gyrus (DG) cells that were previously active during a positive experience significantly increases time struggling in the tail suspension test (b) and preference for sucrose (c), but does not have a significant effect in anxiety-like behavior in the open field test (d) or elevated plus maze test (e). A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measures revealed a group-by-light epoch interaction in the TST (F_{5, 294} = 21.20, P < 0.001) or SPT (F_{5, 196} = 6.20, P < 0.001) followed by Bonferroni post-hoc tests, which revealed significant increases in struggling or preference for sucrose in the positive memory + stress group. #P < 0.01. # used to denote significant differences between the four stressed groups (n = 18 per group) vs. the two non-stressed groups (n = 16 per group); *P<0.05, **P<0.01 (orange * and ** used to denote significant differences between the stress + positive memory group vs. the other three stressed groups). Data are means +/− SEM.