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Sci. STKE, 21 August 2007
Vol. 2007, Issue 400, p. tw303
[DOI: 10.1126/stke.4002007tw303]

EDITORS' CHOICE

Neuroscience Fleeting Memories

Peter Stern

Science, AAAS, Cambridge CB2 1LQ, UK

How persistent is our memory, how is it maintained, and how can it be disrupted? It has recently been shown that PKM{zeta}, a protein kinase C isoform, is critical for maintaining hippocampus-dependent spatial memory and long-term potentiation. Using a conditioning taste aversion paradigm, Shema et al. (see the news story by Miller) found that long-term memory could be erased by infusion of a PKM{zeta} inhibitor, ZIP, into the insular cortex. The activity of PKM{zeta} was specifically involved in the storage of memories but not in their acquisition.

R. Shema, T. C. Sacktor, Y. Dudai, Rapid erasure of long-term memory associations in the cortex by an inhibitor of PKM{zeta}. Science 317, 951-953 (2007). [Abstract] [Full Text]

G. Miller, Enzyme keeps old memories alive. Science 317, 883 (2007). [Summary] [Full Text]

Citation: P. Stern, Fleeting Memories. Sci. STKE 2007, tw303 (2007).

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