Acetylcholine in the orbitofrontal cortex is necessary for the acquisition of a socially transmitted food preference - PubMed (original) (raw)

. 2005 May-Jun;12(3):302-6.

doi: 10.1101/lm.91605. Epub 2005 May 16.

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Acetylcholine in the orbitofrontal cortex is necessary for the acquisition of a socially transmitted food preference

Robert S Ross et al. Learn Mem. 2005 May-Jun.

Abstract

The social transmission of food preference task (STFP) has been used to examine the involvement of the hippocampus in learning and memory for a natural odor-odor association. However, cortical involvement in STFP has not been extensively studied. The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is important in odor-guided learning, and cholinergic depletion of the entire neocortex results in impairments in STFP. Here we examined the specific role of cholinergic modulation in the OFC by assessing the effect of 192 immunoglobulin G-saporin infusion directly into OFC prior to training on STFP. Cholinergic depletion in the OFC impaired expression of the socially transmitted odor association measured 2 d after training, indicating that cholinergic function in the OFC is essential for this form of associative learning.

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Figures

Figure 1.

Figure 1.

(A) Amount of trained food eaten (white bar) for each group in grams vs. amount of comparison food eaten (dark bar) during testing period. (B) Performance by OFC-AChX rats (dark bar) and sham operated controls (white bar) in STFP. The dashed line indicates chance selection of the two foods. (C) Total amount of food eaten by each group in grams. Data are represented as mean ± SEM.

Figure 2.

Figure 2.

(A) Highlighted squares (black for orbitofrontal cortex [OFC], gray for cingulate cortex [CIN], and stripes for agranular insular cortex [AI]) represent areas where AChE+ fibers were counted in sham operated controls and in animals with 192 IgG-saporin lesions. Numbers represent AP coordinates relative to bregma (Paxinos and Watson 1998). (B) Bilateral AChE+ fiber counts in all areas examined. Dark bars show counts from OFC-AChX rats, and white bars show counts from sham operated controls. Group labels indicate loci in OFC, CIN, and AI at AP coordinates relative to bregma. Data are represented as mean counts ± SEM. **Significant difference (P < 0.01) in fiber counts between lesion and control group.

Figure 3.

Figure 3.

Representative example of AChE depletion seen in the 192 IgG-saporin lesion group in the OFC 2.70 mm anterior to bregma (line = 50 μm).

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