Memory updating during reconsolidation relays on a behavioral tagging process

GRINSPUN, MARTÍN; SCHROEDER, MATÍAS NICOLÁS; FULLIO, CAMILA; MONCADA, DIEGO

VILLA CARLOS PAZ

Congreso; XXXIV ANUAL MEETING SAN 2019; 2019

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación en Neurociencias (SAN)

We have recently shown that the reconsolidation of different memories occurs via a behavioral tagging (BT) process. In other words, to re-stabilize a memory upon its reactivation two parallel and complementary processes must occur: the setting of reconsolidation tag and the synthesis of new proteins (PRPs). Here, using the spatial object recognition (SOR) task in rats, we investigated how the BT process regulates the addition of new information to the trace. Our results show that the inhibition of the protein kinase A (PKA) and theextracellular regulated kinases 1/2 (ERK1/2) upon memory reactivation impaired its reconsolidation, unveiling those pathways as mechanisms related to the setting of the tag and the synthesis of PRPs respectively. In addition, we studied the role of the dopaminergic and adrenergic systems. We observed that the β-adrenergic and the D1/D5-dopaminergic receptors of the hippocampus are specifically required to induce the synthesis of PRPs necessary to grant the reconsolidation process and add new information to the trace. Moreover, by combining SOR memory reactivation with the exploration to multiple novel arenas at different time points, we observed that each exposure, capable of providing further PRPs, induced a better long-term memory. In summary, our results show that the BT underlays the addition of new information to a memory trace during memory reconsolidation and they start to unveil the mechanisms underlying the process.