cAMP responsive element-binding protein phosphorylation is necessary for perirhinal long-term potentiation and recognition memory

Abstract

We established the importance of phosphorylation of cAMP responsive element-binding protein (CREB) to both the familiarity discrimination component of long-term recognition memory and plasticity within the perirhinal cortex of the temporal lobe. Adenoviral transduction of perirhinal cortex (and adjacent visual association cortex) with a dominant-negative inhibitor of CREB impaired the preferential exploration of novel over familiar objects at a long (24 h) but not a short (15 min) delay, disrupted the normal reduced activation of perirhinal neurons to familiar compared with novel pictures, and impaired long-term potentiation of synaptic transmission in perirhinal slices. The consistency of these effects across the behavioral, systems, and cellular levels of analysis provides strong evidence for involve-ment of CREB phosphorylation in synaptic plastic processes within perirhinal cortex necessary for long-term recognition memory. Copyright © 2005 Society for Neuroscience.