Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0598853 (forgetting)
 3,232 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Long-term depression (LTD) of synaptic transmission, often used as an essential component in synaptic models for learning, memory and forgetting, can be produced in layer II/III of the visual cortex by a prolonged, low-frequency stimulation (LFS) of layer IV. The activation of Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein phosphatase, calcineurin, has been postulated to play a role in the induction of LTD. The recent introduction of a specific inhibitor for calcineurin, FK506, prompted the investigation of the involvement of this phosphatase in the induction of LTD in visual cortex. Thus, we administered FK506 at 1 microM to visual cortical slices of young rats, and found that it did not significantly affect field responses of layer II/III evoked by test stimulation of layer IV at 0.1 Hz, but prevented LTD of the responses from being induced by LFS (1 Hz for 15 min) in all the 10 slices tested. Without FK506, significant LTD was induced by the same parameters of LFS in 8 of the 12 slices. These results suggest the critical involvement of calcineurin in producing LTD in visual cortex.
 ...
PMID:An inhibitor for calcineurin, FK506, blocks induction of long-term depression in rat visual cortex. 753 57

Calcium/calmodulin-dependent kinases (CaM-kinases) are central to various forms of long-term memory (LTM) in a number of evolutionarily diverse organisms. However, it is still largely unknown what contributions specific CaM-kinases make to different phases of the same specific type of memory, such as acquisition, or early, intermediate, and late consolidation of associative LTM after classical conditioning. Here, we investigated the involvement of CaM-kinase II (CaMKII) in different phases of associative LTM induced by single-trial reward classical conditioning in Lymnaea, a well established invertebrate experimental system for studying molecular mechanisms of learning and memory. First, by using a general CaM-kinase inhibitor, KN-62, we found that CaM-kinase activation was necessary for acquisition and late consolidation, but not early or intermediate consolidation or retrieval of LTM. Then, we used Western blot-based phosphorylation assays and treatment with CaMKIINtide to identify CaMKII as the main CaM-kinase, the intrinsic activation of which, in a critical time window ( approximately 24 h after learning), is central to late consolidation of LTM. Additionally, using MK-801 and CaMKIINtide we found that acquisition was dependent on both NMDA receptor and CaMKII activation. However, unlike acquisition, CaMKII-dependent late memory consolidation does not require the activation of NMDA receptors. Our new findings support the notion that even apparently stable memory traces may undergo further molecular changes and identify NMDA-independent intrinsic activation of CaMKII as a mechanism underlying this "lingering consolidation." This process may facilitate the preservation of LTM in the face of protein turnover or active molecular processes that underlie forgetting.
 ...
PMID:Delayed intrinsic activation of an NMDA-independent CaM-kinase II in a critical time window is necessary for late consolidation of an associative memory. 2005 87