Ventral striatal plasticity and spatial memory.
Spatial memory formation is a dynamic process requiring a series of cellular and molecular steps, such as gene expression and protein translation, leading to morphological changes that have been envisaged as the structural bases for the engram. Despite the role suggested for medial temporal lobe plasticity in spatial memory, recent behavioral observations implicate specific components of the striatal complex in spatial information processing. However, the potential occurrence of neural plasticity within this structure after spatial learning has never been investigated. In this study we demonstrate that blockade of cAMP response element binding protein-induced transcription or inhibition of protein synthesis or extracellular proteolytic activity in the ventral striatum impairs long-term spatial memory. These findings demonstrate that, in the ventral striatum, similarly to what happens in the hippocampus, several key molecular events crucial for the expression of neural plasticity are required in the early stages of spatial memory formation.
Ferretti
Valentina
V
Dipartimento di Genetica e Biologia Molecolare, Center for Research in Neurobiology D Bovet, Università di Roma La Sapienza, 00185 Rome, Italy.
Roullet
Pascal
P
Sargolini
Francesca
F
Rinaldi
Arianna
A
Perri
Valentina
V
Del Fabbro
Martina
M
Costantini
Vivian J A
VJ
Annese
Valentina
V
Scesa
Gianluigi
G
De Stefano
Maria Egle
ME
Oliverio
Alberto
A
Mele
Andrea
A
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000502:physiology*; D017362:Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D015151:Immunoblotting; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D016376:Oligonucleotides, Antisense / Q000235:genetics; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis / Q000502:physiology; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*
D017362:Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein; D016376:Oligonucleotides, Antisense