The IκB kinase inhibitor sulfasalazine impairs long-term memory in the crab Chasmagnathus
Section snippets
Animals
Adult male Chasmagnathus granulatus intertidal crabs, 2.6–2.9 cm across the carapace, weighing 17±0.2 g (n=60), were collected from water less than 1 m deep in the estuarine coasts of San Clemente del Tuyú, Argentina. They were transported to the laboratory, where they were lodged in plastic tanks (30×45×20 cm) filled to 0.5 cm depth with diluted (12%, pH 7.4–7.6) marine water (prepared from Cristalsea Marinemix salts, USA), to a density of 20 crabs per tank. The holding room was maintained on
IKK and IκB-like immunoreactivity in Chasmagnathus central brain extracts
Previous evidence for the presence of NF-κB family members in the nervous system of the crab was obtained with specific DNA binding activity assays (Freudenthal et al., 1998, Freudenthal and Romano, 2000), western blot analysis with human p65 antibody and UV-crosslinking analysis of the complex found in nucleus (R. Freudenthal and A. Romano, unpublished data). The aim of this experiment was to detect components of the NF-κB signalling system in the central brain, i.e., the area of the CNS in
Discussion
On the basis of previous results we predicted that NF-κB activation was necessary for LTM formation in the context-signal learning paradigm of Chasmagnathus. In this work, experimental data supporting this prediction are reported.
The first series of experiments indicates that components of the NF-κB pathway are present in crustaceans. IκB- and IKK-like immunoreactivity, as well as IKK-like kinase activity were detected in the central brain. This activity was inhibited by sulfasalazine, a drug
Acknowledgments
We thank Dr. H. Maldonado for his support and critical reading of the manuscript and Dr. L. Orelli and Dr. G. Hermitte for their assistance. This work was supported by the following grants: Third World Academy of Science 98-241 RG/BIO/LA, Fundación Antorchas A-13622/1 and Agencia Nacional de Promoción Cientı́fica y Tecnológica – Argentina PICT 1-6041.
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