
Possible biochemical mechanism underlying long-term memories identified - DrScump
http://www.kurzweilai.net/possible-biochemical-mechanism-underlying-long-term-memories-identified
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njohnson41
There are already multiple known molecular mechanisms for long-term memories
though.

One of the simplest is spike-timing-dependent plasticity [1], which is caused
by the behavior of NMDA receptors shortly before and after depolarization.
(This is why ethanol, an NMDA antagonist, can produce a "blackout" in high
doses, where no memories are formed.)

In general, neurons have a lot of mutable long-term state. The graph of how
neurons are connected can change, the strength of those connections can
change, the internal chemistry of the neurons can change through gene
expression factors, and, apparently, levels of long-lived prions can change.

This is not to say that the whole mechanism of long-term memory is understood,
but that this discovery is just one of a class of mechanisms that may all be
working in parallel or even independently.

[1] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike-timing-
dependent_plastic...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spike-timing-
dependent_plasticity)

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nonbel
They are claiming that amyloids are used for long term memory (ie getting rid
of amyloid-beta may be a bad for Alzheimer's patients), but don't really make
the connection. The amyloid-beta is protective/compensatory idea has been
around for while. "Long term memory" here is a fly not trying to mate 48 hours
after being rejected though:

>"In this paradigm, male flies learn to suppress their courtship behavior upon
repeated exposure to an unreceptive female. The 201Y-Gal4:UAS-CG4612RNAi flies
developed normally, and when tested, they did not display a deficit in
shortterm memory or memory up to a day. However, when tested 48 hr after
training, there was significant impairment in learned suppression of male
courtship"

