NF-kB is required for memory reconsolidation.

FREUDENTHAL R,; BOCCIA M,; BLAKE M; BARATTI CM; ROMANO, A

Atlanta, Georgia.

Congreso; 36th Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting; 2006

Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting

NF-kB is required for memory reconsolidation Ramiro Freudenthal 1, Mariano Boccia 2, Gabriela Acosta 3, Mariano Blake 2, Carlos Baratti 2 and Arturo Romano 1. 1Laboratorio de Neurobiología de la Memoria, Departamento de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Celular, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, IFIByNE, CONICET, Ciudad Universitaria, Pab. II, 2do piso (1428EHA), Buenos Aires, Argentina. 2Laboratorio de Neurofarmacología de Procesos de Memoria, Cátedra de Farmacología, Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Junín 956, 5to piso (C1113AAD) Buenos Aires, Argentina. 3Instituto de Investigaciones Farmacológicas (ININFA-CONICET), Junín 956, 5to piso (C1113AAD), Buenos Aires, Argentina. Corresponding autor: ramirof@fbmc.fcen.uba.ar 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-kB in memory. Recently we found in the crab Chasmagnathus model of associative contextual memory that NF-kB is activated specifically by retrieval and that this activation is required for memory reconsolidation. Here we found that the inhibition of NF-kB after memory reactivation impaired retention in inhibitory avoidance in mice. Two independent strategies were used: the i.c.v. administration of sulfasalazine, an inhibitor of IKK the kinase that activates NF-kB and i.c.v. administration of kB decoy, a direct inhibitor of NF-kB consisting in a double strand DNA oligonucleotide that contains the kB 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.