Disruption of imprinting by memory inhibitors

doi:10.1016/S0003-3472(81)80120-0

Animal Behaviour

Volume 29, Issue 2, May 1981, Pages 572-580

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-3472(81)80120-0 Get rights and content

Abstract

Several amnestic drugs were administered intracranially to day-old chicks at selected times around a 10-min exposure to an imprinting stimulus. The drugs used were monosodium glutamate, ouabain, cycloheximide and amino-iso-butyrate. The chicks were tested for 10 min in the same apparatus two days later, and the time spent following the stimulu was recorded., The index of memory retention was the difference between the time spent following on test and the time spent following on the initial exposure. When compared with saline-injected control, glutamate administered 5 min before the beginning of the initial exposure was effective in producing a reduction in following times and hence amnesia. Ouabian was effective when injeced before the beginning and immediately after the end of the initial exposure; while cycloheximide was effective when administered as late as 5 min after the initial exposure. The effective times of administration for the drugs to produce a reduction in following times were similar to that observed for amnesia in passive avoidance memory tasks. The increase in following shown by the control chicks was not a developmental effect due to the increae in age on test. Experiments involving a choice of stimuli on test support the invovement of a memoryrelated phenomenon in these experiments.

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Spatial learning-induced increase in the argyrophilic nucleolar organizer region of dorsolateral telencephalic neurons in goldfish
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Citation Excerpt :
Learning experience has been associated with increased neuronal RNA synthesis also in fish [21,51,56]. Similarly to mammals, the administration of protein synthesis inhibitors in birds prevents the memory formation for imprinting [20] or for avoidance tasks [16] and prevents memory consolidation in fish after training in an active avoidance task [1,54] or in a vestibulo-motor learning task [55]. Most of the ribosomal RNA (rRNA) synthesis occurs in the nucleolar organizer region (NOR) of the cell nucleus.
Spatial learning and memory related morphological changes in the argyrophilic nucleolar organizer region (AgNOR) of telencephalic neurons in goldfish were quantitatively evaluated by means of AgNOR neurohistochemical stain. The AgNORs and nuclei of nerve cells of two different telencephalic regions of goldfish trained in a spatial task or submitted to a similar non-contingent behavioral procedure (control group) were morphometrically evaluated. Results show that the area of AgNORs in goldfish dorsolateral telencephalic neurons increased significantly in the spatial learning group but not in control group. This effect seems to be highly specific as it did not appear in the dorsolateral area of the control group neither in the dorsomedial area of both groups. As the size of AgNORs in the nerve cell nuclei reflect the level of transcriptive activity, these morphological changes could be revealing increased protein synthesis in goldfish dorsolateral telencephalic neurons related with learning and memory. These findings could contribute to determining the subregions of the teleost telencephalon implicated in spatial learning and could indicate that the AgNOR staining technique would be a useful tool in assesing learning and memory related neuronal activity.
Amnesia produced by anisomycin in an appetitive task is not due to conditioned aversion
1987, Behavioral and Neural Biology
Two experiments investigated the effects of lithium chloride (LiCl) and anisomycin (ANI) in a water reward Y-maze task. In Experiment 1, male CD-1 mice given weak or strong training were injected post-training with either saline or LiCl (150 mg/kg), which has been reported to produce conditioned aversion in mice. One day after training, both LiCl groups avoided the rewarded arm of the maze and drank less water than saline-injected controls. Two days after training, the strongly trained LiCl mice showed avoidance, while both LiCl groups drank less water. In Experiment 2, weakly trained mice given pre- and post-training ANI (30 mg/kg) were amnesic on the second test day compared to mice that received post-trial saline. However, water consumption was increased on the test day for both groups. LiCl produced a different pattern of results than ANI in this task. On the basis of these results, it is suggested that amnesia produced by ANI is due to impaired memory formation and not to conditioned aversion.
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Day-old chicks which are submitted to a halothane anaesthesia immediately after a 10 min. exposure to a moving model are less likely than non-treated chicks to approach this model in subsequent tests given 24 and 48 hours later. They may be unable to approach any model or they may approach the other model presented in the test situation. Modulation of responses at test depends on strength of imprinting which itself depends on attractiveness of the model and amount of following displayed during the exposure session. Results of this experiment corroborate previous results showing disruptive effects of halothane anaesthesia on behaviour in imprinted chicks, effects which are stronger if chicks had a poor visuo-motor experience at exposure session. Imprinting as a gradual acquisition process is suggested by detailed analysis of results of control and treated chicks.
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^*: On leave from: Department of Psychology, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Australia, 3083.

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Disruption of imprinting by memory inhibitors

Abstract

Physiol. Behav.

Brain Res.

Neurosci. Letters

Biobehav. Rev.

Pharmac. Biochem. Gehav.

Brain Res.

Behav. Biol.

Physiol. Behav.

The characteistics and context of imprinting

Biol. Rev.