Amino acids and memory consolidation in the cricket I: Changes in the titer of free amino acids in nervous tissue after learning (original) (raw)
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Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, 1992
We followed the titer of free amino acids in nervous ganglia and hemolimph of the cricket Pteronemobius sp. at different times during and after a shock avoidance training that included one experimental group and three controls. The results showed that Tau, urea, Thr, His, GABA, and an unidentified compound (Q) increased their titer in ganglia and hemolimph during training, whereas Ala, Arg, Val, Glu, Ser, and one or all of the group formed by Cys, Phe, Ile, Leu, and Trp decreased theirs concomitantly to memory consolidation. The difference in the rate of experimental insects and their yoked slaves to consolidate the learned task was reflected in the changes of the titers of the amino acids mentioned above. The data add to the evidence for a direct involvement of these amino acids in modulating the memory consolidation process. Amino acids Insects Memory consolidation Long-term memory Memory Crickets Neuromodulation Aversive conditioning Learning Amino acid changes
Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior - PHARMACOL BIOCHEM BEHAV, 1990
The effect of injections of selected amino acids on memory, given before a maze-learning, was investigated. Thirsty crickets (Pteronemobius sp.) were trained to turn only to one side of a symmetrical Y-shaped maze using reinforcements with water. The insects retained the learned task 24 hr later. N 2 anoxia applied immediately after training produced retrograde amnesia. Injections of Ala, Arg, Gin or morphine prior to training blocked the amnesic action of anoxia, whereas those of Cys, Met, Pro, Orn, octopamine or naioxone did not. Naloxone blocked long-term memory formation, but not learning, whereas Pro and Orn blocked both. The antiamnesic effect of morphine and Arg, but not that of Ala, was blocked by naloxone. A hypothesis assigning a neuromodulatory role to some amino acids is put forward.
Roles of aminergic neurons in formation and recall of associative memory in crickets
Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience, 2010
We review recent progress in the study of roles of octopaminergic (OA-ergic) and dopaminergic (DA-ergic) signaling in insect classical conditioning, focusing on our studies on crickets. Studies on olfactory learning in honey bees and fruit-flies have suggested that OA-ergic and DA-ergic neurons convey reinforcing signals of appetitive unconditioned stimulus (US) and aversive US, respectively. Our work suggested that this is applicable to olfactory, visual pattern, and color learning in crickets, indicating that this feature is ubiquitous in learning of various sensory stimuli. We also showed that aversive memory decayed much faster than did appetitive memory, and we proposed that this feature is common in insects and humans. Our study also suggested that activation of OA- or DA-ergic neurons is needed for appetitive or aversive memory recall, respectively. To account for this finding, we proposed a model in which it is assumed that two types of synaptic connections are strengthened ...
Learning & memory (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.)
The distribution of putative RDL-like GABA receptors and of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the brain of the adult house cricket Acheta domesticus was studied using specific antisera. Special attention was given to brain structures known to be related to learning and memory. The main immunostaining for the RDL-like GABA receptor was observed in mushroom bodies, in particular the upper part of mushroom body peduncle and the two arms of the posterior calyx. Weaker immunostaining was detected in the distal part of the peduncle and in the alpha and beta lobes. The dorso- and ventrolateral protocerebrum neuropils appeared rich in RDL-like GABA receptors. Staining was also detected in the glomeruli of the antennal lobe, as well as in the ellipsoid body of the central complex. Many neurons clustered in groups exhibit GABA-like immunoreactivity. Tracts that were strongly immunostained innervated both the calyces and the lobes of mushroom bodies. The glomeruli of the antennal lobe, the ell...
Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
2013
Studies in vertebrates and invertebrates have proved the instructive role that different biogenic amines play in the neural representation of rewards and punishments during associative learning. Results from diverse arthropods and using different learning paradigms initially agreed that dopamine (DA) is needed for aversive learning and octopamine (OA) is needed for appetitive learning. However, the notion that both amines constitute separate pathways for appetitive and aversive learning is changing. Here, we asked whether DA, so far only involved in aversive memory formation in honey bees, does also modulate appetitive memory. Using the well characterized appetitive olfactory conditioning of the proboscis extension reflex (PER), we show that DA impairs appetitive memory consolidation. In addition, we found that blocking DA receptors enhances appetitive memory. These results are consistent with the view that aversive and appetitive components interact during learning and memory forma...
Leucine incorporation in the ganglia of praying mantids during a learning process
1976
Leucine incorporation into four ganglia ('brain'. B; prothoracic ganglion, P; mesothoracic ganglion, M; and metathoracic ganglion, T) was studied in mantids (Stagmatoptera biocellata) trained not to attack a black star figure in movement. There were two experimental groups, i.e. LM and WH experimental groups, and one control group. The LM and WH groups differed in the experimental conditions of training in such a way that both had similar motor activity and sensorial stimulation but only one of them evinced learning (MALDONAIXJ and TABLANTE, 1975). After training. incorporation of 1 i4CI leucine into P and B was greater in experimental than in control animals. This result is not necessarily related to learning because no difference was found between LM and WH experimental groups. The metabolic gr,adient of the four ganglia of the experimental animals was P-B+M-+T, whereas that found for the control group was M+T-+P+B. The authors interpret these findings as supporting a hypothesis previously set forth that correlates the metabolic gradient in the four ganglia with differences regarding control of motor activity and/or sensorial input. Experiments involving double labelling and electrophoresis indicated that the P and B changes after training involved all the proteins, and were not restricted to one or a few protein species,
New perspecties on the phusiology, chemistry, and pharmacology of memory
Drug Development Research, 1987
Considerable progress has been made in the analysis of learning and memory, both at the level of the chemical processes involved in translating brief physiological events into longlasting changes in synaptic efficacy and at the level of the location of the changes responsible for the behavioral phenomenon of memory. This review focuses primarily on recent findings concerning the phenomenon of long-term potentiation (LTP) of synaptic transmission elicited in hippocampal pathways by certain patterns of electrical stimulation of various pathways. We first discuss the nature of the physiological events which are critically involved in LTP induction and indicate that these events are linked with naturally occurring patterns of activity in behaving animals. Detailed analysis of the physiological events taking place in the initial period of LTP induction points out a very specific sequence of biochemicallbiophysical mechanisms that play a critical role in triggering LTP. We then briefly review the evidence indicating that LTP induction is accompanied by various types of structural modifications that have been proposed to be responsible for the long duration of the synaptic changes. This is followed by the description of a candidate biochemical mechanism that links the initial events triggered by LTP-inducing stimulations and the long-lasting modifications in synaptic structure and function. The final section presents our efforts to situate the analysis of the LTP phenomenon in the broader context of learning and memory and in particular indicates how the knowledge obtained at the biochemical and cellular level can be used to design new strategies for a pharmacological analysis of the memory processes.