CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

New memories are initially vulnerable to disruption but are progressively strengthened over time. The phenomenon is known as memory consolidation, and requires protein synthesis. It is traditionally accepted that once memory consolidation is completed memory becomes permanent. However, several studies have also shown that when a well-stabilized memory is reactivated (recalled) it again becomes sensitive to the same treatments that could affect memory consolidation when given after training. This new period of sensitivity coined the term memory reconsolidation. We review the post-training (memory consolidation) and post-reactivation (memory reconsolidation) effects of icv infusions of hemicholinium (HC-3), a central inhibitor of acetylcholine (Ach) synthesis, intraperitoneal administration of L-NAME, a non-specific inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase, and intrahippocampal injections of an inhibitor of the transcription factor NF-kB (9) on retention performance of an inhibitory avoidance response in mice. We also briefly discuss both the post-training and the post-retrieval effects of the exposure of mice to a new learning experience. All treatments impair long term memory consolidation and retrieval-induced memory processes different from extinction, probably in accordance with the reconsolidation hypothesis.

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