Consolidation of Learning Strategies during Spatial Working Memory Task Requires Protein Synthesis in the Prefrontal Cortex

• Published in: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS 2007-03, Vol.104 (13), p.5632-5637
• Main Authors: Touzani, K., Puthanveettil, S. V., Kandel, E. R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Anisomycin - pharmacology; Behavioral neuroscience; Biological Sciences; Brain; Brain Mapping; Gene Expression Regulation; Learning; Learning strategies; Lesions; Male; Maze Learning; Mazes; Memory; Memory interference; Memory, Short-Term; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Prefrontal cortex; Prefrontal Cortex - metabolism; Prefrontal Cortex - physiology; Protein synthesis; Proteins; Proteins - chemistry; Reversal Learning; Rodents; Space Perception; Spatial Behavior; Training; Working memory
• ISSN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0611554104

Working memory is a temporary memory store where information is held briefly until the appropriate behavior is produced. However, the improvement in the performance of working memory tasks with practice over days points to the existence of a long-lasting component associated with learning strategies that lead to optimal performance. Here we show that the improvement in the performance of mice in a radial maze working memory task required the integrity of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). We further demonstrate that this improvement of working memory performance requires the synthesis of de novo proteins in the mPFC. We suggest that in addition to storing memory briefly the mPFC is also involved in the consolidation and storage of the long-term learning strategies used in working memory.