Memory consolidation and glycoprotein metabolism: A failure to find a relationship

Abstract

In an effort to study the role of glycoproteins in memory consolidation and stress, albino rats were trained for 3–5 minutes on a simple one trial passive avoidance of foot shock task. A three minute retention test was run 24 hours after original learning. [1− 14C] Glucosamine (15 microcuries/rat) was injected intraperitoneally 15 minutes before original learning (Experiments 1 and 2), before retention (Experiment 3), or before 10 minutes of inescapable foot shock (Experiment 4). Control animals were handled in the same fashion as experimental subjects, except that the former never received foot shock. Sacrifice occured one hour (Experiments 1,3 and 4) or twenty four hours (Experiment 2) after injection. There were no significant differences between controls and experimental subjects in the incorporation of isotope into the heteropolysaccharide chains isolated from brain glycoproteins. The amount of N-acetylneuraminic acid (NANA), hexose, hexosamine, and fucose in the heteropolysaccharide chains were also unchanged. The view that glycoproteins are involved in memory received no support from the present findings.