The Journal of Neuroscience, June 7, 2006, 26(23):6298-6302; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0890-06.2006
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Phase-Dependent Molecular Requirements for Memory Reconsolidation: Differential Roles for Protein Synthesis and Protein Kinase A Activity
György Kemenes,1
Ildikó Kemenes,1
Maximilian Michel,1
Andrea Papp,1 and
Uli Müller2,3
1Sussex Centre for Neuroscience, Department of Biology and Environmental Sciences, School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QG, United Kingdom, 2Institut für BiologieNeurobiologie, Freie Universität Berlin, D-14195 Berlin, Germany, and 3Department 8.3 BiosciencesZoology/Physiology, Natural Sciences and Technology III, Saarland University, D-66041 Saarbrücken, Germany
Correspondence should be addressed to Prof. György Kemenes, Sussex Centre for Neuroscience, School of Life Sciences, Department of Biology and Environmental Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QG, UK. Email: G.Kemenes{at}sussex.ac.uk
After consolidation, a process that requires gene expression and protein synthesis, memories are stable and highly resistant to disruption by amnestic influences. Recently, consolidated memory has been shown to become labile again after retrieval and to require a phase of reconsolidation to be preserved. New findings, showing that the dependence of reconsolidation on protein synthesis decreases with the age of memory, point to changing molecular requirements for reconsolidation during memory maturation. We examined this possibility by comparing the roles of protein synthesis (a general molecular requirement for memory consolidation) and the activation of protein kinase A (PKA) (a specific molecular requirement for memory consolidation), in memory reconsolidation at two time points after training. Using associative learning in Lymnaea, we show that reconsolidation after the retrieval of consolidated memory at both 6 and 24 h requires protein synthesis. In contrast, only reconsolidation at 6 h after training, but not at 24 h, requires PKA activity, which is in agreement with the measured retrieval-induced PKA activation at 6 h. This phase-dependent differential molecular requirement for reconsolidation supports the notion that even seemingly consolidated memories undergo further selective molecular maturation processes, which may only be detected by analyzing the role of specific pathways in memory reconsolidation after retrieval.
Key words: classical conditioning; memory retrieval; memory reconsolidation; PKA; protein synthesis; Lymnaea
Received Feb. 28, 2006;
revised May 2, 2006;
accepted May 3, 2006.
Correspondence should be addressed to Prof. György Kemenes, Sussex Centre for Neuroscience, School of Life Sciences, Department of Biology and Environmental Sciences, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QG, UK. Email: G.Kemenes{at}sussex.ac.uk
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