NF-êB is required for memory reconsolidation

FREUDENTAL R, BOCCIA MM, ACOSTA GB, BLAKE MG, BARATTI CM, ROMANO AG

Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Congreso; Society for Neuroscience; 2006

Society for Neuroscience

Several studies support that stored memories undergo a new period of consolidation after retrieval. It is not known whether this process, termed reconsolidation, requires the same transcriptional mechanisms involved in consolidation. Increasing evidence supports the participation of the transcription factor NF-êB in memory. Recently we found in the crab Chasmagnathus model of associative contextual memory that NF-êB is activated specifically by retrieval and that this activation is required for memory reconsolidation. Here we found that the inhibition of NF-êB after memory reactivation impaired retention in inhibitory avoidance in mice. Two independent strategies were used: the intra-cerebro-ventricular (i.c.v.) administration of sulfasalazine, an inhibitor of IKK the kinase that activates NF-êB and i.c.v. administration of êB decoy, a direct inhibitor of NF-êB consisting in a double strand DNA oligonucleotide that contains the êB consensus sequence together with the administration of a control mutated sequence. Both treatments were applied immediately after the first testing session 24 hs after one trial training. Five subsequent tests with 24 hs interval reveled memory impairment. These data support the role of this transcription factor as an evolutionary conserved molecular mechanism involved in both consolidation and reconsolidation.