Memory consolidation and fucosylation of crude synaptosomal glycoproteins resolved by gel electrophoresis: A regional study

Prior to learning a simple withdrawal from footshock by climbing on a safe platform, male albino rats were injected intraperitoneally with ³H-l-fucose. At various intervals after training the delipidated P2 fraction of Whittaker was prepared from the temporal cortex, hippocampus, caudate-putamen, and cerebellum of each subject. Gel electrophoresis was carried out using a three-layered discontinuous polyacrylamide-SDS system. It was found that, as a function of training condition, there were (a) no differences in any gel region in percentage of total protein determined densitometrically, (b) a region 4 mm into the gel and 22 mm into the gel (MW greater than 10⁶ and 10⁵, respectively) where, as a function of training condition, statistically significant differences in the caudate-putamen but not the other three regions were observed in percentage of H-fucose incorporation, (c) a region 26 mm from the origin where ³H-fucose incorporation differences as a function of training were observed in temporal cortex only, (d) no effects of training on ³H-fucose incorporation in hippocampus or cerebellum. These results indicate that quantitative changes occur in particular brain regions in the rates of ³H-fucose turnover of glycoproteins of particular molecular weight range after a training experience.