KEY MOLECULAR CHANGES TRIGGERED BY LEARNING ARE REQUIRED FOR LONG-LASTING MEMORY STORAGE IN THE RETROSPLENIAL CORTEX

KATCHE C; GONZALEZ C; KRAMAR C; MEDINA JH

Milán

Congreso; 9th FENS forum 2014 - Federation of European Neuroscience Societies; 2014

During the past few years there has been growing interest in the role of the restrosplenial cortex (RSC) in memory processing. However, little is known about the molecular changes that take place in this brain region during memory storage. In the present work, we studied the early posttraining participation of RSC in the formation and storage of a long-lasting memory. We found an increase in c-Fos levels in the RSC after inhibitory avoidance (IA) training. Interestingly, this increase was associated with memory durability, since blocking c-Fos expression using specific antisense-oligonucleotides (ASO) impaired long-lasting retention without affecting long-term memory expression shortly after training. In addition, we showed that BDNF is one of the upstream signals for c-Fos expression required for memory persistence. We found that injection of BDNF into RSC enhanced memory persistence and that this effect was prevented by c-fos ASO infusion into the same structure. These findings reveal an early posttraining involvement of RSC in the processing of an aversive long-lasting memory and also key molecular components necessary for this process.