Molecular mechanisms underlying a cellular analog of operant reward learning.

ABSTRACT: Operant conditioning is a ubiquitous but mechanistically poorly understood form of associative learning in which an animal learns the consequences of its behavior. Using a single-cell analog of operant conditioning in neuron B51 of Aplysia, we examined second-messenger pathways engaged by activity and reward and how they may provide a biochemical association underlying operant learning. Conditioning was blocked by Rp-cAMP, a peptide inhibitor of PKA, a PKC inhibitor, and by expressing a dominant-negative isoform of Ca2+-dependent PKC (apl-I). Thus, both PKA and PKC were necessary for operant conditioning. Injection of cAMP into B51 mimicked the effects of operant conditioning. Activation of PKC also mimicked conditioning but was dependent on both cAMP and PKA, suggesting that PKC acted at

SUBMITTER: Lorenzetti FD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2603610 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature