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Cocaine is known to influence the synaptic plasticity of dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA). Contrary to the earlier studies, Mameli et al. find that cocaine treatment can reduce synaptic NMDA receptor currents while increasing the synaptic insertion of calcium-permeable AMPA receptors. Cocaine treatment also reversed the rule of spiking timing–dependent plasticity in the VTA.
The authors report that adolescent nicotine exposure in rats induces lasting attentional disturbances and reduces mGluR2 function in the PFC. Restoring mGluR2 activity rescued attention specifically.
Disruption of the hippocampus influences both spatial reference and working memory. By selectively blocking parvalbumin-positive interneuron signaling, the authors find that this class of neurons contributes to spatial working memory, but not to reference memory.
Previous work suggests that protein kinase M zeta (PKMζ) is required for long-term memory maintenance. Here, the authors find that, under some conditions, PKMζ inhibition does not erase memory, but only temporarily disrupts the expression of memory.