anisomycin and Alcohol-Related-Disorders

In humans, the retrieval of memories associated with an alcohol-related experience frequently evokes alcohol-seeking behaviour. The reconsolidation hypothesis states that a consolidated memory could again become labile and susceptible to disruption after memory retrieval.. The aim of our study was to examine whether retrieval of alcohol-related memories undergoes a reconsolidation process.. For this purpose, male Wistar rats were trained to self-administer ethanol in the presence of specific conditioned stimuli. Thereafter, animals were left undisturbed in their home cages for the following 21 days. Memory retrieval was performed in a single 5-min exposure to all alcohol-associated stimuli. The protein synthesis inhibitor anisomycin, the non-competitive N-methyl-D: -aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist MK-801 and acamprosate, a clinically used drug known to reduce a hyper-glutamatergic state, were given immediately after retrieval of alcohol-related memories. The impact of drug treatment on cue-induced alcohol-seeking behaviour was measured on the following day and 7 days later.. Administration of both anisomycin and MK-801 reduced cue-induced alcohol-seeking behaviour, showing that memory reconsolidation was disrupted by these compounds. However, acamprosate had no effect on the reconsolidation process, suggesting that this process is not dependent on a hyper-glutamatergic state but is more related to protein synthesis and NMDA receptor activity.. Pharmacological disruption of reconsolidation of alcohol-associated memories can be achieved by the use of NMDA antagonists and protein synthesis inhibitors and may thus provide a potential new therapeutic strategy for the prevention of relapse in alcohol addiction.

Topics: Acamprosate; Alcohol Deterrents; Alcohol-Related Disorders; Animals; Anisomycin; Behavior, Addictive; Behavior, Animal; Conditioning, Operant; Cues; Dizocilpine Maleate; Ethanol; Male; Memory; Mental Recall; Protein Synthesis Inhibitors; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate; Self Administration; Taurine