PROTEIN SYNTHESIS AS RELATED TO LONG TERM MEMORY

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Protein synthesis has long been known to be required for associative learning to consolidate into long-term memory. In our recent work at the MBL, we were able to demonstrate that PKC isozyme activation on days before training can induce the synthesis of proteins necessary and sufficient for subsequent long-term memory (LTM) consolidation. We believe that this work, coupled with correlative electrophysiology that is consistent with the biochemistry, is a major step forward in our understanding of how long-term memory is stored in brains. Considering that the key drug used for our current experiments, bryostatin, is about to go into clinical trials, these findings once more illustrate the power of marine models for uncovering fundamental principles of brain function - particularly as they relate to man. We have used the resources of the BRC to pursue the underlying electrophysiological mechanisms.