title: Ventral tegmental dopamine dysregulation prevents appetitive memory destabilization.
abstract: Through the process of reconsolidation, memories can be updated to maintain their relevance. To reconsolidate, a memory must first be destabilized in a process that we have hypothesized is initiated by a prediction error signal. Here we demonstrate that dysregulation of ventral tegmental area (VTA) signaling, which is thought to mediate prediction errors, prevented the destabilization of an appetitive goal-tracking memory in rats. We additionally show that intra-VTA infusion of either the competitive NMDA antagonist AP5 or the noncompetitive NMDA antagonist MK-801 does not selectively disrupt reconsolidation, indicating that the VTA may not be an important neural locus of reconsolidation-related neural plasticity.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TT, United Kingdom. a.reichelt@unsw.edu.au
authors.forename: Amy C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Reichelt
authors.forename: Marc T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Exton-McGuinness
authors.forename: Jonathan L C
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001070:Appetitive Behavior / Q000187:drug effects*; D018492:Dopamine Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D006040:Goals; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors; D017557:Ventral Tegmental Area / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D018492:Dopamine Antagonists; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate