Neuroscience. From molecules to memory in the cerebellum.
Neuroscientists have long sought to elucidate the molecular underpinnings of the memories needed to learn, for example, a motor task. In his Perspective, Linden discusses new work (Koekkoek et al.) suggesting that long-term depression in Purkinje cells mediated by protein kinase C signaling is responsible for motor memory in a task called associative eyelid conditioning.
D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning; D001767:Blinking; D003215:Conditioning, Eyelid; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology; D036881:Long-Term Synaptic Depression; D008568:Memory; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000502:physiology; D010766:Phosphorylation; D011493:Protein Kinase C / Q000378:metabolism; D011689:Purkinje Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D018091:Receptors, AMPA / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction
D011493:Protein Kinase C; D018091:Receptors, AMPA; C104722:glutamate receptor ionotropic, AMPA 2