The effects of cytokines on cognitive processes have been extensively studied. Particularly, IL-1beta administered in dorsal hippocampus significantly impairs the consolidation of a contextual fear memory. The mechanisms by which this inhibition occurs in vivo remains to be elucidated. We previously reported that IL-1beta produced a decrease in glutamate release after contextual fear conditioning. Here we showed that this hypothesis is also sustained by the fact that treatment with D-cycloserine, a partial agonist of the NMDA receptor, reversed the effect of IL-1beta on contextual fear memory. Besides, IL-1beta reduces ERK2 phosphorylation, a MAPK critically involved in memory consolidation. We have demonstrated that alpha-MSH reversed the IL-1beta detrimental effect on memory consolidation. Preliminary results demonstrated that alpha-MSH reverted the pERK inhibition induced by IL-1beta and produced an increase in BDNF levels after the contextual fear conditioning.
