title: Memory reconsolidation allows the consolidation of a concomitant weak learning through a synaptic tagging and capture mechanism.
abstract: Motivated by the synaptic tagging and capture (STC) hypothesis, it was recently shown that a weak learning, only able to produce short-term memory (STM), can succeed in establishing long-term memory (LTM) with a concomitant, stronger experience. This is consistent with the capture, by the first-tagged event, of the so-called plasticity-related proteins (PRPs) provided by the second one. Here, we describe how a concomitant session of reactivation/reconsolidation of a stronger, contextual fear conditioning (CFC) memory, allowed LTM to result from a weak spatial object recognition (wSOR) training. Consistent with an STC process, the effect was observed only during a critical time window and was dependent on the CFC reconsolidation-related protein synthesis. Retrieval by itself (without reconsolidation) did not have the same promoting effect. We also found that the inactivation of the NMDA receptor by AP5 prevented wSOR training to receive this support of CFC reconsolidation (supposedly through the production of PRPs), which may be the equivalent of blocking the setting of a learning tag in the dorsal CA1 region for that task. Furthermore, either a Water Maze reconsolidation, or a CFC extinction session, allowed the formation of wSOR-LTM. These results suggest for the first time that a reconsolidation session can promote the consolidation of a concomitant weak learning through a probable STC mechanism. These findings allow new insights concerning the influence of reconsolidation in the acquisition of memories of otherwise unrelated events during daily life situations.
authors.affiliation: Psychobiology and Neurocomputation Laboratory, Biophysics Department, Institute of Biosciences, 91.501-970; Graduate Program in Neuroscience, Institute of Health Sciences, 90.046-900, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
authors.forename: Lindsey F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Cassini
authors.forename: Rodrigo O
authors.initials: RO
authors.lastname: Sierra
authors.forename: Josué
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Haubrich
authors.forename: Ana P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Crestani
authors.forename: Fabiana
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Santana
authors.forename: Lucas
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: de Oliveira Alvares
authors.forename: Jorge A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Quillfeldt
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D056547:CA1 Region, Hippocampal / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D005108:Extinction, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D005239:Fear / Q000502:physiology; D007858:Learning / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D057567:Memory, Long-Term / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D014633:Valine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate; C056639:2-amino-5-phosphopentanoic acid; D014633:Valine
keywords: fear conditioning; hippocampus; nimodipine; reactivation; spatial object recognition