time-dependent expression of arc and zif268 after acquisition of fear conditioning时间表达式弧和收购后zif268恐惧条件反射.pdfVIP

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Neural Plasticity Volume 2010, Article ID 139891, 12 pages doi:10.1155/2010/139891 Research Article Time-Dependent Expression of Arc and Zif268 after Acquisition of Fear Conditioning Mary E. Lonergan, Georgette M. Gafford, Timothy J. Jarome, and Fred J. Helmstetter Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2441 E. Hartford Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53211, USA Correspondence should be addressed to Fred J. Helmstetter, fjh@ Received 10 November 2009; Revised 31 January 2010; Accepted 22 February 2010 Academic Editor: Jeansok Kim Copyright © 2010 Mary E. Lonergan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Memory consolidation requires transcription and translation of new protein. Arc, an effector immediate early gene, and zif268, a regulatory transcription factor, have been implicated in synaptic plasticity underlying learning and memory. This study explored the temporal expression profiles of these proteins in the rat hippocampus following fear conditioning. We observed a time- dependent increase of Arc protein in the dorsal hippocampus 30-to-90-minute post training, returning to basal levels at 4 h. Zif268 protein levels, however, gradually increased at 30-minute post training before peaking in expression at 60 minute. The timing of hippocampal Arc and zif268 expression coincides with the critical period for protein synthesis-dependent memory consolidation following fear conditioning. However, the expression of Arc protein appears to be driven by context exploration, whereas, zif268 expression may be more specifically related