title: Can previous learning alter future plasticity mechanisms?
abstract: The dynamic processes related to mnemonic plasticity have been extensively researched in the last decades. More recently, studies have attracted attention because they show an unusual plasticity mechanism that is independent of the receptor most usually related to first-time learning--that is, memory acquisition-the NMDA receptor. An interesting feature of this type of learning is that a previous experience may cause modifications in the plasticity mechanism of a subsequent learning, suggesting that prior experience in a very similar task triggers a memory acquisition process that does not depend on NMDARs. The intracellular molecular cascades necessary to assist the learning process seem to depend on the activation of hippocampal CP-AMPARs. Moreover, most of these studies were performed on hippocampus-dependent tasks, even though other brain areas, such as the basolateral amygdala, also display NMDAR-independent learning.
authors.affiliation: Psychobiology and Neurocomputation Lab and Neuroscience Graduate Program, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul.
authors.forename: Ana Paula
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Crestani
authors.affiliation: Psychobiology and Neurocomputation Lab and Neuroscience Graduate Program, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul.
authors.forename: Jorge Alberto
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Quillfeldt
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate