A molecular mechanism underlying gustatory memory trace for an association in the insular cortex

作者：Adaikkan Chinnakkaruppan; Rosenblum Kobi^*

来源：eLife, 2015, 4: e07582.

DOI：10.7554/eLife.07582

Events separated in time are associatively learned in trace conditioning, recruiting more neuronal circuits and molecular mechanisms than in delay conditioning. However, it remains unknown whether a given sensory memory trace is being maintained as a unitary item to associate. Here, we used conditioned taste aversion learning in the rat model, wherein animals associate a novel taste with visceral nausea, and demonstrate that there are two parallel memory traces of a novel taste: a short-duration robust trace, lasting approximately 3 hr, and a parallel long-duration weak one, lasting up to 8 hr, and dependent on the strong trace for its formation. Moreover, only the early robust trace is maintained by a NMDAR-dependent CaMKII- AMPAR pathway in the insular cortex. These findings suggest that a memory trace undergoes rapid modifications, and that the mechanisms underlying trace associative learning differ when items in the memory are experienced at different time points.

• 出版日期2015-10-9