Correlation between phosphorylation level of a hippocampal 86Â kDa protein and extinction of a behaviour in a model of Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome

The effects of chronic ethanol and thiamine deficiency, alone or associated, on hippocampal protein phosphorylation profiles ranging in molecular weight from 30 to 250 kDa molecular weight, in stimulated (high K+ concentration) and unstimulated (basal) conditions were investigated. These treatments significantly changed the phosphorylation level of an 86 kDa phosphoprotein. Thiamine deficiency, but not chronic ethanol, induced a decrease in a behavioural extinction index, which is significantly correlated to the phosphorylation level of the p86 protein. These data add to and extend previous findings by our laboratory implicating the involvement of hippocampal neurotransmission components in extinction of a behaviour which involves learning of environmental spatial cues.