Influence of mRNA and protein synthesis inhibitors on the long-term memory acquisition of classically conditioned earthworms
- 作者：Watanabe ; Hikaru ; Takaya ; Tomohiro ; Shimoi ; Toshinobu ; Ogawa ; Hiroto ; Kitamura ; Yoshiichiro ; et. al.
- 关键词：Memory consolidation ; Shirinkage response ; Associative learning ; Anisomycin ; Retention of memory ; Actinomycin-D ; Ventaral nerve cord
- 刊名：Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
- 出版年：2005
- 期刊代码：81_10747427
- 类别：neu
- 出版时间：March, 2005
- 卷：83
- 期：2
- 页码：151-157
- 文件大小：471 K
摘要
We investigated the process of memory consolidation following classical conditioning of earthworms. Earthworms were conditioned in paired trials by a weak vibration as a conditioned stimulus (CS), and by light as an unconditioned stimulus (US). The occurrence of a shrinking response upon exposure to the CS increased steadily with the number of paired training trials. When the training procedure was changed by increasing the intertrial interval (ITI), it was found that only those worms trained with a 68s ITI exhibited long-term memory retention for at least 24h. The influence of mRNA synthesis inhibition by actinomycin-D or of protein synthesis by anisomycin on memory consolidation was also examined. Induction of the long-term memory was blocked when either of these two compounds was injected into the body cavity of the worm within 25min of conditioning with the 68s ITI. These results demonstrate that the long-term memory is dependent upon protein synthesis in response to the upregulation of new transcription messengers.