Extinction of conditioned taste aversion depends on functional protein synthesis but not on NMDA receptor activation
Irit Akirav1, Vicktoria Khatsrinov, Rose-Marie Vouimba
1Department of Neurobiology and Ethology, The Brain and Behavior Research Center, University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel.
Abstract:
We investigated the role of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in extinction of conditioned taste aversion (CTA) by microinfusing a protein synthesis inhibitor or N-methyl-d-asparate (NMDA) receptors antagonist into the vmPFC immediately following a non-reinforced extinction session. We found that the protein synthesis blocker anisomycin, but not the NMDA receptors antagonist D,L-2-amino-5-phosphonovaleric acid, impaired CTA extinction in the vmPFC. Anisomycin microinfusion into vmPFC had no effect on CTA acquisition and by itself did not induce CTA. These findings show the necessary role functional protein synthesis is playing in the vmPFC during the learning of CTA extinction.
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