Journal
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
Volume 13, Issue 9, Pages 1809-1815Publisher
BLACKWELL SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1046/j.0953-816x.2001.01543.x
Keywords
associative learning; classical conditioning; eyelid conditioning; gene expression; long-term memory; microarray; nictitating membrane response; rabbit
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Changes in gene expression have been postulated to occur during long-term memory (LTM). We used high-density cDNA microarrays to assess changes in gene expression 24 h after rabbit eye blink conditioning. Paired animals were presented with a 400 ms, 1000 Hz, 82 dB tone conditioned stimulus that coterminated with a 100 ms, 60 Hz, 2 mA electrical pulse unconditioned stimulus. Unpaired animals received the same conditioned and unconditioned stimuli but presented in an explicitly unpaired manner. Differences in expression levels between paired and unpaired animals in the hippocampus and cerebellar lobule HVI, two regions activated during eye blink conditioning, indicated the involvement of novel genes as well as the participation of previously implicated genes. Patterns of gene expression were validated by in situ hybridization. Surprisingly, the data suggest that an underlying mechanism of LTM involves widespread decreased, rather than increased, gene expression. These results demonstrate the feasibility and utility of a cDNA microarray system as a tool for dissecting the molecular mechanisms of associative memory.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available