Dopamine Controls Persistence of Long-Term Memory Storage

Abstract

Making Memories Last How can memory traces persist over days or weeks, despite the short-lived nature and rapid turnover of their molecular substrates? It has recently been reported that, in order to persist, an otherwise rapidly forgotten long-term memory requires BDNF (brain-derived neurotrophic factor) expression in the hippocampus 12 hours post training. Rossato et al. (p. 1017 ) now show that this mechanism is gated into action by activation of the ventral tegmental area acting upon dopamine D1 receptors in the hippocampus. Time-limited N -methyl- d -aspartate receptor–dependent activity in the ventral tegmental area–hippocampal circuitry underlies the delayed increase in BDNF levels in the hippocampus 12 hours after inhibitory avoidance, a hippocampus-dependent form of learning.