Relationship between short- and long-term memory and short- and long-term extinction.
Both the acquisition and the extinction of memories leave short- and long-term mnemonic traces. Here, we show that in male Wistar rats, the short-term memory for a step-down inhibitory avoidance task (IA) is resistant to extinction, and that its expression does not influence retrieval or extinction of long-term memory. It has been known for some time that short- and long-term inhibitory avoidance memory involve separate and parallel processes. Here we show that, instead, short-term extinction of IA long-term memory is the first step towards its long-term extinction, and that this link requires functional NMDA receptors and protein synthesis in the CA1 region of the dorsal hippocampus at the time of the first CS-no US presentation.
Cammarota
Martín
M
Centro de Memória, Instituto de Pesquisas Biomédicas, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.
Bevilaqua
Lia R M
LR
Rossato
Janine I
JI
Ramirez
Maria
M
Medina
Jorge H
JH
Izquierdo
Iván
I
D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D005108:Extinction, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000378:metabolism*; D013997:Time Factors
D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate