Onset of amnesia is delayed with a decrease in inhibition of protein synthesis during odor-taste associative learning in the terrestrial slug Limax valentianus.
Slugs can retain odor-taste associative memory for several weeks, and this requires protein synthesis. We examined the dose-dependency of the onset time of amnesia caused by the protein synthesis inhibitor anisomycin, and showed that with reduced dose, the onset is shifted from 2 days to 3 days after conditioning; we could not shift the onset delay later than 3 days. Our results suggest that the mechanism underling memory retention is different in the period up to 3 days, versus the period later than 3 days. Our results also suggest that sustained inhibition of protein synthesis in the period from zero to 3 hr after conditioning is necessary to cause amnesia.
Yasui
Kikuo
K
Laboratory of Neurobiophysics, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Hongo, Japan.
Matsuo
Ryota
R
Kirino
Yutaka
Y
D000818:Animals; D000841:Anisomycin / Q000494:pharmacology; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D007858:Learning / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D008974:Mollusca / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D011500:Protein Synthesis Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D012903:Smell; D013649:Taste
D011500:Protein Synthesis Inhibitors; D000841:Anisomycin