1. Neuroscience

A molecular mechanism underlying gustatory memory trace for an association in the insular cortex

  1. Chinnakkaruppan Adaikkan
  2. Kobi Rosenblum  Is a corresponding author
  1. University of Haifa, Israel
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.07582
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  1. Chinnakkaruppan Adaikkan
  2. Kobi Rosenblum
(2015)
A molecular mechanism underlying gustatory memory trace for an association in the insular cortex
eLife 4:e07582.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.07582
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Abstract

Events separated in time are associatively learned in trace conditioning, recruiting more neuronal circuits and molecular mechanisms than in delay conditioning. However, it remains unknown whether a given sensory memory trace is being maintained as a unitary item to associate. Here, we used conditioned taste aversion learning in the rat model, wherein animals associate a novel taste with visceral nausea, and demonstrate that there are two parallel memory traces of a novel taste: a short-duration robust trace, lasting approximately 3h, and a parallel long-duration weak one, lasting up to 8h, and dependent on the strong trace for its formation. Moreover, only the early robust trace is maintained by a NMDAR-dependent CaMKII- AMPAR pathway in the insular cortex. These findings suggest that a memory trace undergoes rapid modifications, and that the mechanisms underlying trace associative learning differ when items in the memory are experienced at different time points.

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Chinnakkaruppan Adaikkan

    Sagol Department of Neurobiology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  2. Kobi Rosenblum

    Sagol Department of Neurobiology, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
    For correspondence
    kobir@psy.haifa.ac.il
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Christian Rosenmund, Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany

Ethics

Animal experimentation: The procedures were approved by the University of Haifa ethics committee for animal research and were in accordance with the NIH guidelines for the ethical treatment of animals. All of the animals were handled according to the Haifa University animal care and use committee. All surgery was preformed under sodium pentobarbital anesthesia, and every effort was made to minimize suffering.

Version history

  1. Received: March 19, 2015
  2. Accepted: October 8, 2015
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: October 9, 2015 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: December 11, 2015 (version 2)

Copyright

© 2015, Adaikkan & Rosenblum

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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  1. Chinnakkaruppan Adaikkan
  2. Kobi Rosenblum
(2015)
A molecular mechanism underlying gustatory memory trace for an association in the insular cortex
eLife 4:e07582.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.07582

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.07582

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