[The molecular basis of dopamine synapse activity in the mechanisms of learning and amnesia]

Neurochemical events underlying the activity of the dopamine synapse during the retrieval of memory and its impairment ("psychogenic" amnesia) are considered in the paper. Physico-chemical parameters of operation of D2 receptor and catechole content were investigated in various brain areas (striatum, neostriatum, hypothalamus, amygdala, frontal cortex, hippocampus, nuclei accumbens, A9, and A10) in intact, learned, and amnestic rats. The impairment in the memory trace retrieval was found to be associated with a significant decrease in activation of synaptic dopamine receptors and a modification of the dopamine transformation pathway.