 |
The Journal of Neuroscience, July 21, 2004, 24(29):6515-6520; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1034-04.2004
Previous Article | Next Article 
BRIEF COMMUNICATION
Motor Skill Learning Depends on Protein Synthesis in Motor Cortex after Training
Andreas R. Luft, *
Manuel M. Buitrago, *
Thomas Ringer,
Johannes Dichgans, and
Jörg B. Schulz
Department of General Neurology and Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
The role of protein synthesis in memory consolidation is well established for hippocampus-dependent learning and synaptic plasticity. Whether protein synthesis is required for motor skill learning is unknown. We hypothesized that skill learning is interrupted by protein synthesis inhibition (PSI). We intended to test whether local protein synthesis in motor cortex or cerebellum is required during skill acquisition and consolidation. Anisomycin (ANI; 100 µg/µl in 1 µl of PBS) injected into motor cortex, posterior parietal cortex, or cerebellum produced 84.0 ± 1.44% (mean ± SEM), 85.9 ± 2.31%, and 87.3 ± 0.17% of PSI 60 min after administration, respectively. In motor cortex, protein synthesis was still reduced at 24 hr (72.0 ± 4.68% PSI) but normalized at 48 hr after a second injection given 24 hr after the first. To test for the effects of PSI on learning of a skilled reaching task, ANI was injected into motor cortex contralateral to the trained limb or into ipsilateral cerebellum immediately after daily training sessions 1 and 2. Two control groups received motor cortex injections of vehicle or ANI injections into contralateral parietal cortex. Control and cerebellar animals showed a sigmoid learning curve, which plateaued after day 4. PSI in motor cortex significantly reduced learning during days 1-4. Thereafter, when protein synthesis normalized, learning was reinitiated. ANI injections into motor cortex did not induce a motor deficit, because animals injected during the performance plateau did not deteriorate. This demonstrates that motor skill learning depends on de novo synthesis of proteins in motor cortex after training.
Key words: motor skill learning; memory; protein synthesis; anisomycin; rat; cerebellum
Received Dec 24, 2003;
revised June 6, 2004;
accepted June 6, 2004.
This article has been cited by other articles:

|
 |

|
 |
 
J. Reis, H. M. Schambra, L. G. Cohen, E. R. Buch, B. Fritsch, E. Zarahn, P. A. Celnik, and J. W. Krakauer
Noninvasive cortical stimulation enhances motor skill acquisition over multiple days through an effect on consolidation
PNAS,
February 3, 2009;
106(5):
1590 - 1595.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
S. E. Criscimagna-Hemminger and R. Shadmehr
Consolidation Patterns of Human Motor Memory
J. Neurosci.,
September 24, 2008;
28(39):
9610 - 9618.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
N. Zach, D. Inbar, Y. Grinvald, H. Bergman, and E. Vaadia
Emergence of Novel Representations in Primary Motor Cortex and Premotor Neurons during Associative Learning
J. Neurosci.,
September 17, 2008;
28(38):
9545 - 9556.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
S. Languille, N. Gruest, P. Richer, and B. Hars
The temporal dynamics of consolidation and reconsolidation decrease during postnatal development
Learn. Mem.,
May 30, 2008;
15(6):
434 - 442.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
[PDF]
|
 |
|

|
 |

|
 |
 
M.-H. Monfils, E. J. Plautz, and J. A. Kleim
In Search of the Motor Engram: Motor Map Plasticity as a Mechanism for Encoding Motor Experience
Neuroscientist,
October 1, 2005;
11(5):
471 - 483.
[Abstract]
[PDF]
|
 |
|
|