| Program#/Poster#: |
591.24/UU11 |
| Title: |
Enhancement of fear memory consolidation
by experience |
| Location: |
Washington Convention Center: Hall A-C
|
| Presentation Time: |
Tuesday, Nov 18, 2008, 11:00 AM -12:00
PM |
| Authors: |
*L. OSTROFF, N. DAR, R. MAURO,
J. E. LEDOUX;
Ctr. Neural Sci., New York Univ., New York, NY |
| Abstract: |
The consolidation of fear conditioning
memory requires protein synthesis in the period immediately following training.
Work in other systems suggests that protein synthesis-dependent processes,
such as learning and synaptic plasticity, can be modulated by prior treatments
or experiences. We report here that rats given weak fear conditioning training
have significantly stronger long-term memory if they have been preexposed
to footshock. Memory for an auditory tone paired with a weak footshock was
enhanced by strong conditioning to a different tone, context conditioning,
and immediate shock (without associative learning), but not by exposure
to a different auditory stimulus or to a novel chamber. There was no effect
on short-term memory, and long-term memory enhancement was seen if the pretreatment
was given one hour, but not 24 hours, before training. Application of the
protein synthesis blocker anisomycin to the lateral amygdala (LA) is known
to spare short-term, but impair long-term fear memory. We also show that
pretraining animals one hour before fear conditioning with anisomycin infusion
into the LA rescues long-term memory from the drug. Our data confirm that
signals for memory consolidation can be separated from learning events,
and provide us with a framework to examine these signals in the future.
|
| Support: |
R37 MH038774 |
|
P50 MH058911 |
|
R01 MH046516 |
|
K05 MH067048 |