Mechanisms of Cocaine Memory Reconsolidation: The role of SFK's in the Dorsal Hippocampus (2013)

Undergraduates: Megan Blanton, A.M. Wells X.Xie, A.A. Arguello

Faculty Advisor: Rita Fuchs
Department: Psychology & Neuroscience

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Environmental context-elicited relapse depends on associations between a drug-taking context, (e.g. a crack house) the drug-taking response, and the reinforcing properties of the drug. The functional integrity of the dorsal hippocampus (DH) is critical for the reconsolidation (i.e., restabilization following retrieval) of memories that trigger cocaine seeking. Thus, a greater understanding of the molecular mechanisms of reconsolidation in the DH is desired from a relapse prevention perspective. The Src family of tyrosine kinases (SFKs) has been implicated in synaptic plasticity, spatial learning, and long-term potentiation in hippocampal slices. A previous study conducted by our lab indicated that SFKs are necessary for the expression of context-induced cocaine seeking. Thus, the present experiment utilized a rodent extinction-reinstatement model of relapse to test the hypothesis that SFKs are critical in the DH for the reconsolidation of context-response-cocaine memories, which drive context-induced cocaine seeking. We show that administration of SFK inhibitor, PP2, into the DH of rats following brief re-exposure to a previously cocaine-paired context (i.e. cocaine-memory reactivation), but not following exposure to a novel context (no-reactivation control), significantly attenuates cocaine-seeking behavior relative to vehicle-treated rats (VEH). These results indicate that SFK activation in the DH is required for the reconsolidation of context-response-cocaine memories.