title: Lateral Habenula determines long-term storage of aversive memories.
abstract: The Lateral Habenula (LHb) is a small brain structure that codifies negative motivational value and has been related to major depression. It has been shown recently that LHb activation is sufficient to induce aversive associative learning; however the key question about whether LHb activation is required for an aversive memory to be formed has not been addressed. In this article we studied the function of the LHb in memory formation using the Inhibitory Avoidance task (IA). We found that LHb inactivation during IA training does not disrupt memory when assessed 24 h after, but abolishes it 7 days later, indicating that LHb activity during memory acquisition is not necessary for memory formation, but regulates its temporal stability. These effects suggest that LHb inactivation modifies subjective perception of the training experience.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencias, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Micol
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tomaiuolo
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencias, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencias, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, Argentina ; Departamento de Fisiología, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Jorge H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Medina
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Neurociencia de Sistemas, Instituto de Fisiología y Biofísica Houssay (CONICET-UBA), Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, Argentina ; Instituto de Fisiología Biología Molecular y Neurociencias (IFIBYNE-CONICET), Universidad de Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: Joaquin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Piriz
keywords: Lateral Habenula; Wistar; fear memory; inhibitory avoidance learning; memory persistence; rats