ON THE ROLE OF CAMKII IN OBJECT RECOGNITION MEMORY UPDATING

Object recognition memory (ORM) is a central component of declarative knowledge. It allows animals to identify previously encountered items as familiar and distinguish them from novel ones. In rats, ORM consolidation requires the functional involvement of the dorsal hippocampus which is engaged in reconsolidation only if ORM is recalled in the presence of a novel object. Reconsolidation is a two-step process during which memory is first destabilized upon reactivation and then restabilized in order to return to a stable form. It has been shown that hippocampus-dependent ORM updating through reconsolidation triggers hippocampal theta–gamma coupling. Calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) is a Ser/Thr kinase enriched in the post-synaptic compartment that is involved in several aspects of neuronal function. Its activity mediates NMDA-dependent long-term plastic changes at active spines and is a key synaptic molecule for learning and memory, but its role in ORM processing remains unknown.