Memory is not extinguished along with CS presentation but within a few seconds after CS-offset

Prior work with the crab’s contextual memory model showed that CS-US conditioned animals undergoing an unreinforced CS presentation would either reconsolidate or extinguish the CS-US memory, depending on the length of the reexposure to the CS. Either memory process is only triggered once the CS is terminated. Based on these results, the following questions are raised. First, when is extinction memory acquired, if not along extinction training, and how long does it take? Second, can acquisition and consolidation of extinction memory be pharmacologically dissected? Here we address these questions performing three series of experiments: a first one aimed to study systematically the relationship between extinction and increasing periods of unreinforced CS presentations, a second one to determine the time boundaries of the extinction memory acquisition, and the third one to assay the requirement for protein synthesis and NMDA-like receptors of acquisition and consolidation of extinction memory. Our results confirm that it is CS-offset and not the mere retrieval (CS-onset) that triggers acquisition of extinction memory and that it is completed in less than 45 sec after CS-offset. In addition, protein synthesis is required for consolidation but not for acquisition of this memory and, conversely, NMDA-like receptor activity is required for its acquisition but not for its consolidation. Finally, we offer an interpretative scheme of our results and we discuss to what extent it could apply to multitrial extinction.