Medial prefrontal cortex dopamine controls the persistent storage of aversive memories

Medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is essential for initial memory processing and expression but its involvement in persistent memory storage has seldom been studied. Using the hippocampus dependent inhibitory avoidance learning task and the hippocampus-independent conditioned taste aversion paradigm t...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: María Carolina Gonzalez, Cecilia Paula Kramar, Micol eTomaiuolo, Cynthia eKatche, Noelia eWeisstaub, Martín eCammarota, Jorge Horacio Medina
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2014-11-01
Series:Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
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Online Access:http://journal.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00408/full
Description
Summary:Medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is essential for initial memory processing and expression but its involvement in persistent memory storage has seldom been studied. Using the hippocampus dependent inhibitory avoidance learning task and the hippocampus-independent conditioned taste aversion paradigm together with specific dopamine receptor agonists and antagonists we found that persistence but not formation of long-tem aversive memories requires dopamine D1/D5 receptors activation in mPFC immediately after training and, depending on the task, between 6 and 12 hour later. Our results indicate that besides its well-known participation in retrieval and early consolidation, mPFC also modulates the endurance of long-lasting aversive memories regardless of whether formation of the aversive mnemonic trace requires the participation of the hippocampus.
ISSN:1662-5153