The central dogma for the “Systems Consolidation Model” proposes that “memories are formed in the hippocampus and are later stored in the cortex”. However, previous work by other labs has shown that hippocampal neuronal NMDA receptor (NMDAR), a plasticity molecular switch, is not essential for associative learning. Similarly, our lab found that removing neuronal NMDAR in the primary motor (M1) cortex impaired both S1-M1 cortical plasticity in aversive and reward learning. This presentation delineates the role of NMDARs in astrocytes of the M1 cortex as a critical regulatory layer in cortical plasticity underlying aversive and reward-based associative learning, extending beyond traditional hippocampal-centric models and describing the neocortex as an immediate encoding site, not a late-stage memory storage depot. We are currently investigating the role of astrocytes NMDAR as the key node that gates aversive and reward learning with new data and future outlook.

More information:

• https://www.achucarro.org/people/gorka-kortabarria/