Abstract
The maintenance of long-term memory in hippocampus, neocortex and amygdala requires the persistent action of the atypical protein kinase C isoform, protein kinase Mzeta (PKMzeta). We found that inactivating PKMzeta in the amygdala impaired fear memory in rats and that the extent of the impairment was positively correlated with a decrease in postsynaptic GluR2. Blocking the GluR2-dependent removal of postsynaptic AMPA receptors abolished the behavioral impairment caused by PKMzeta inhibition and the associated decrease in postsynaptic GluR2 expression, which correlated with performance. Similarly, blocking this pathway for removal of GluR2-containing receptors from postsynaptic sites in amygdala slices prevented the reversal of long-term potentiation caused by inactivating PKMzeta. Similar behavioral results were obtained in the hippocampus for unreinforced recognition memory of object location. Together, these findings indicate that PKMzeta maintains long-term memory by regulating the trafficking of GluR2-containing AMPA receptors, the postsynaptic expression of which directly predicts memory retention.
Publication types
-
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
-
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
-
Analysis of Variance
-
Animals
-
Avidin / metabolism
-
Behavior, Animal / drug effects
-
Biotinylation / methods
-
Cerebral Cortex / drug effects
-
Cerebral Cortex / physiology
-
Cerebral Cortex / ultrastructure
-
Conditioning, Psychological / drug effects
-
Conditioning, Psychological / physiology
-
Electroshock / adverse effects
-
Fear / drug effects
-
Freezing Reaction, Cataleptic / drug effects
-
Hippocampus / physiology
-
Hippocampus / ultrastructure
-
Long-Term Potentiation / drug effects
-
Long-Term Potentiation / physiology
-
Male
-
Memory / drug effects
-
Memory / physiology*
-
Patch-Clamp Techniques / methods
-
Peptides / pharmacology
-
Protein Kinase C / chemistry
-
Protein Kinase C / metabolism*
-
Protein Transport / drug effects
-
Protein Transport / genetics
-
Protein Transport / physiology
-
Rats
-
Rats, Long-Evans
-
Rats, Sprague-Dawley
-
Receptors, AMPA / metabolism*
-
Recognition, Psychology / drug effects
-
Recognition, Psychology / physiology
-
Statistics, Nonparametric
-
Subcellular Fractions / metabolism
-
Synaptic Transmission / drug effects
Substances
-
Peptides
-
Receptors, AMPA
-
neutravidin
-
Avidin
-
Protein Kinase C
-
protein kinase M zeta, rat
-
glutamate receptor ionotropic, AMPA 2