Ventral tegmental dopamine dysregulation prevents appetitive memory destabilization

Abstract

Through the process of reconsolidation, memories can be updated to maintain their relevance. To reconsolidate, a memory must first be destabilized in a process that we have hypothesized is initiated by a prediction error signal. Here we demonstrate that dysregulation of ventral tegmental area (VTA) signaling, which is thought to mediate prediction errors, prevented the destabilization of an appetitive goal-tracking memory in rats. We additionally show that intra-VTA infusion of either the competitive NMDA antagonist AP5 or the noncompetitiveNMDAantagonist MK-801 does not selectively disrupt reconsolidation, indicating that theVTAmay not be an important neural locus of reconsolidation-related neural plasticity. © 2013 the authors.