Neurobiologie, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
J Neurosci. 2010 Jun 9;30(23):7817-25. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5543-09.2010.
Memory formation is a continuous process composed of multiple phases that can develop independently from each other. These phases depend on signaling pathways initiated after the activation of receptors in different brain regions. The NMDA receptor acts as a sensor of coincident activity between neural inputs, and, as such, its activation during learning is thought to be crucial for various forms of memory. In this study, we inhibited the expression of the NR1 subunit of the NMDA receptor in the honeybee brain using RNA interference. We show that the disruption of the subunit expression in the mushroom body region of the honeybee brain during and shortly after appetitive learning selectively impaired memory. Although the formation of mid-term memory and early long-term memory was impaired, late long-term memory was left intact. This indicates that late long-term memory formation differs in its dependence on NMDA receptor activity from earlier memory phases.
记忆的形成是一个由多个可以相互独立进行的阶段组成的连续过程。这些阶段依赖于不同脑区的受体激活后所引发的信号通路。NMDA 受体作为神经输入之间偶联活动的传感器，因此，人们认为其在学习过程中的激活对于各种形式的记忆至关重要。在这项研究中，我们使用 RNA 干扰抑制了蜜蜂大脑中 NMDA 受体 NR1 亚基的表达。我们发现，在蜜蜂大脑的蘑菇体区域，在奖赏学习期间和之后不久抑制亚基的表达会选择性地损害记忆。尽管中期记忆和早期长时记忆的形成受到了损害，但晚期长时记忆却没有受到影响。这表明，晚期长时记忆的形成在对 NMDA 受体活性的依赖性上与早期记忆阶段不同。
