Short- and long-term memory: differential involvement of neurotransmitter systems and signal transduction cascades.
Since William James (1890) first distinguished primary from secondary memory, equivalent to short- and long-term memory, respectively, it has been assumed that short-term memory processes are in charge of cognition while long-term memory is being consolidated. From those days a major question has been whether short-term memory is merely a initial phase of long-term memory, or a separate phenomena. Recent experiments have shown that many treatments with specific molecular actions given into the hippocampus and related brain areas after one-trial avoidance learning can effectively cancel short-term memory without affecting long-term memory formation. This shows that short-term memory and long-term memory involve separate mechanisms and are independently processed. Other treatments, however, influence both memory types similarly, suggesting links between both at the receptor and at the post-receptor level, which should not be surprising as they both deal with nearly the same sensorimotor representations. This review examines recent advances in short- and long-term memory mechanisms based on the effect of intra-hippocampal infusion of drugs acting upon neurotransmitter and signal transduction systems on both memory types.
Vianna
M R
MR
Centro de Memoria, Departamento de Bioquímica, ICBS, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, 90035-003, Brasil.
Izquierdo
L A
LA
Barros
D M
DM
Walz
R
R
Medina
J H
JH
Izquierdo
I
I
D000818:Animals; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D006624:Hippocampus; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology*
D018377:Neurotransmitter Agents