Amino acid uptake required for long-term memory formation.
alpha-Amino-iso-butyrate (AIB) inhibits long-term, protein synthesis-dependent memory formation by reducing labelled leucine uptake in vivo without affecting leucine incorporation into protein. Unlike the antibiotic cycloheximide, AIB does not block long-term memory formation through inhibition of protein synthesis per se. The behavioural effect of AIB is restricted to times of administration between 5 min before and 5 min after learning a single trial passive avoidance task by day-old chickens. It is concluded that (1) AIB competes with normal amino acids for uptake into cells, and (2) the uptake of amino acids for protein synthesis specific to long-term memory formation takes place in the first few minutes following learning.
Gibbs
M E
ME
Department of Psychology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria 3083, Australia; Department of Behavioural Biology, Research School of Biological Sciences, Canberra 2600 Australia.
Robertson
S
S
Hambley
J
J