Separate biochemical actions of inhibitors of short- and long-term memory

Abstract

In vitro effects of the antibiotics - cycloheximide, puromycin and chloramphenicol, and the sodium pump blockers - ouabain, lithium and copper, on protein synthesis in the crude mitochondrial, postmitochondrial and synaptosomal fractions of chicken forebrain were studied. In the synaptosomal fraction there was a correlation between the inhibitions produced by the sodium pump blockers, of Na +/K + ATPase activity, 14C-leucine uptake and the incorporation of 14C-leucine into protein; whereas the antibiotics only inhibited leucine incorporation into protein. The effects of these drugs on the in vivo incorporation of 14C-leucine into protein in various fractions of chicken forebrain were also studied. The results suggest that there is a biochemical link involving a sodium pump and the transport of amino acids, between nerve impulse activity and neuronal protein synthesis. This link may also interconvert short-term and long-term storage of memory.