D1/D5 dopamine receptors modulate spatial memory formation

AbstractWe investigated the effect of the intra-CA1 administration of the D1/D5 receptor antagonist SCH23390 and the D1/D5 receptor agonist SKF38393 on spatial memory in the water maze. When given immediately, but not 3h after training, SCH23390 hindered long-term spatial memory formation without affecting non-spatial memory or the normal functionality of the hippocampus. On the contrary, post-training infusion of SKF38393 enhanced retention and facilitated the spontaneous recovery of the original spatial preference after reversal learning. Our findings demonstrate that hippocampal D1/D5 receptors play an essential role in spatial memory processing

Pharmacological Findings on the Biochemical Bases of Memory Processes: A General View

We have advanced considerably in the past 2 to 3 years in understanding the molecular mechanisms of consolidation, retrieval, and extinction of memories, particularly of fear memory. This advance was mainly due to pharmacological studies in many laboratories using localized brain injections of molecularly specific substances. One area in which significant advances have been made is in understanding that many different brain structures are involved in different memories, and that often several brain regions are involved in processing the same memory. These regions can cooperate or compete with each other, depending on circumstances that are beginning to be identified quite clearly. Another aspect in which major advances were made was retrieval and post-retrieval events, especially extinction, pointing to new therapeutic approaches to fearmotivated mental disorders

A arte de esquecer

IN THE LAST twenty years we have witnessed an extraordinary progress in our knowledge about the molecular processes involved in memory acquisition, consolidation and retrieval. However and despite the fact that memory formation is indissolubly intermingled with memory forgetting, we know very little about this phenomenon. What are the causes of forgetting? How do we forget? Is there an active forgetting process or this phenomenon is simply due to interference by other memories or to decay due to the passage of time? In this review, we comment briefly on this subject and others related to memory persistence. In particular, we analyze whether expression of the mnemonic trace has any effect on its perdurability.NOS ÚLTIMOS vinte anos vimos presenciando um notável avanço no que diz respeito ao conhecimento acerca dos mecanismos moleculares envolvidos na aquisição, consolidação e expressão de memórias. Porém, e apesar de que resulte óbvio que a nossa capacidade de formar novas memórias está intimamente ligada a sua perda, muito pouco se sabe a respeito do esquecimento. Quais as causas do esquecimento? Como esquecemos? Existe um processo ativo de esquecimento ou esse fenômeno é simplesmente decorrente da interferência de outras memórias ou da passagem do tempo? Neste artigo, comentamos brevemente este e outros temas relacionados com a persistência da memória, em particular, analisamos a influência que a utilização do traço mnemônico tem na sua perdurabilidade

BDNF Activates mTOR to Regulate GluR1 Expression Required for Memory Formation

Background: The mammalian target of Rapamycin (mTOR) kinase plays a key role in translational control of a subset of mRNAs through regulation of its initiation step. In neurons, mTOR is present at the synaptic region, where it modulates the activity-dependent expression of locally-translated proteins independently of mRNA synthesis. Indeed, mTOR is necessary for different forms of synaptic plasticity and long-term memory (LTM) formation. However, little is known about the time course of mTOR activation and the extracellular signals governing this process or the identity of the proteins whose translation is regulated by this kinase, during mnemonic processing. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here we show that consolidation of inhibitory avoidance (IA) LTM entails mTOR activation in the dorsal hippocampus at the moment of and 3 h after training and is associated with a rapid and rapamycinsensitive increase in AMPA receptor GluR1 subunit expression, which was also blocked by intra-hippocampal delivery of GluR1 antisense oligonucleotides (ASO). In addition, we found that pre- or post-training administration of function-blocking anti-BDNF antibodies into dorsal CA1 hampered IA LTM retention, abolished the learning-induced biphasic activation of mTOR and its readout, p70S6K and blocked GluR1 expression, indicating that BDNF is an upstream factor controlling mTOR signaling during fear-memory consolidation. Interestingly, BDNF ASO hindered LTM retention only when given into dorsal CA1 1 h after but not 2 h before training, suggesting that BDNF controls the biphasic requirement of mTOR during LT

Prior learning of relevant non-aversive information is a boundary condition for avoidance memory reconsolidation in the rat hippocampus

Reactivated memories can be modified during reconsolidation, making this process a potential therapeutic target for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a mental illness characterized by the recurring avoidance of situations that evoke trauma-related fears. However, avoidance memory reconsolidation depends on a set of still loosely defined boundary conditions, limiting the translational value of basic research. In particular, the involvement of the hippocampus in fear-motivated avoidance memory reconsolidation remains controversial. Combining behavioral and electrophysiological analyses in male Wistar rats, we found that previous learning of relevant non-aversive information is essential to elicit the participation of the hippocampus in avoidance memory reconsolidation, which is associated with an increase in theta and gamma oscillations power and cross-frequency coupling in dorsal CA1 during reactivation of the avoidance response. Our results indicate that the hippocampus is involved in memory reconsolidation only when reactivation results in contradictory representations regarding the consequences of avoidance, and suggest that robust nesting of hippocampal theta-gamma rhythms at the time of retrieval is a specific reconsolidation marker.2018-03-1

Exploring and Designing for Memory Impairments in Depression

Depression is an affective disorder with distinctive autobiographical memory impairments, including negative bias, overgeneralization and reduced positivity. Several clinical therapies address these impairments, and there is an opportunity to develop new supports for treatment by considering depression-associated memory impairments within design. We report on interviews with ten experts in treating depression, with expertise in both neuropsychology and cognitive behavioral therapies. The interview explores approaches for addressing each of these memory impairments. We found consistent use of positive memories for treating all memory impairments, the challenge of direct retrieval, and the need to support the experience of positive memories. Our findings open up new design opportunities for memory technologies for depression, including positive memory banks for active encoding and selective retrieval, novel cues for supporting generative retrieval, and novel interfaces to strengthen the reliving of positive memories

Nursing under COVID: Moonlighting, working conditions and strategies to face the health crisis

El presente trabajo tiene por objetivo analizar la experiencia profesional de un grupo de enfermeras y enfermeros en tiempos de crisis sanitaria que se desempeñan laboralmente en el Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires (AMBA). Para ello, tomamos los conflictos surgidos en la esfera laboral y las formas de abordarlos, el pluriempleo, el impacto en el ámbito doméstico y las estrategias para sobrellevar la pandemia. Todo eso compone un amplio abanico de cuestiones que emergen sobre un contexto de trabajo en el cual la actividad sigue siendo considerada como subordinada al saber médico o devaluada en términos salariales, pero de una alta centralidad para el sistema sanitario.The objective of this work is to analyze the professional experience of a group of nurses in times of health crisis both in the province of Buenos Aires and in the Capital Federal. To do this, we take as specific axes the claims of the sector, the representations of nursing, the strategies to cope with the pandemic and the relationship between the world of work and the domestic sphere. All of this makes up a wide range of issues that emerge in a work context in which the activity continues to be considered as subordinate to medical knowledge or devalued in salary terms, but in high demand for the health system.Fil: Cammarota, Adrian Aldo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de la Matanza. Departamento de Cs. de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: Faccia, Karina Alicia. Universidad Nacional de la Matanza. Departamento de Cs. de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: Barrera, Marcelo Silvio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de la Matanza. Departamento de Cs. de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: Librandi, Juan Martín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de la Matanza. Departamento de Cs. de la Salud; Argentin

Nursing under COVID: Moonlighting, working conditions and strategies to face the health crisis

El presente trabajo tiene por objetivo analizar la experiencia profesional de un grupo de enfermeras y enfermeros en tiempos de crisis sanitaria que se desempeñan laboralmente en el Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires (AMBA). Para ello, tomamos los conflictos surgidos en la esfera laboral y las formas de abordarlos, el pluriempleo, el impacto en el ámbito doméstico y las estrategias para sobrellevar la pandemia. Todo eso compone un amplio abanico de cuestiones que emergen sobre un contexto de trabajo en el cual la actividad sigue siendo considerada como subordinada al saber médico o devaluada en términos salariales, pero de una alta centralidad para el sistema sanitario.The objective of this work is to analyze the professional experience of a group of nurses in times of health crisis both in the province of Buenos Aires and in the Capital Federal. To do this, we take as specific axes the claims of the sector, the representations of nursing, the strategies to cope with the pandemic and the relationship between the world of work and the domestic sphere. All of this makes up a wide range of issues that emerge in a work context in which the activity continues to be considered as subordinate to medical knowledge or devalued in salary terms, but in high demand for the health system.Fil: Cammarota, Adrian Aldo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de la Matanza. Departamento de Cs. de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: Faccia, Karina Alicia. Universidad Nacional de la Matanza. Departamento de Cs. de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: Barrera, Marcelo Silvio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de la Matanza. Departamento de Cs. de la Salud; ArgentinaFil: Librandi, Juan Martín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de la Matanza. Departamento de Cs. de la Salud; Argentin

The Role of the Entorhinal Cortex in Extinction: Influences of Aging

The entorhinal cortex is perhaps the area of the brain in which neurofibrillary tangles and amyloid plaques are first detectable in old age with or without mild cognitive impairment, and very particularly in Alzheimer's disease. It plays a key role in memory formation, retrieval, and extinction, as part of circuits that include the hippocampus, the amygdaloid nucleus, and several regions of the neocortex, in particular of the prefrontal cortex. Lesions or biochemical impairments of the entorhinal cortex hinder extinction. Microinfusion experiments have shown that glutamate NMDA receptors, calcium and calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II, and protein synthesis in the entorhinal cortex are involved in and required for extinction. Aging also hinders extinction; it is possible that its effect may be in part mediated by the entorhinal cortex