A triphasic curve characterizes the retention of lever-pressing behavior rewarded by lateral hypothalamic stimulation during the immediate-post-trial period in rats: implications for a transient-intermediate stage between short- and long-term memory

We investigated the retention of lever-pressing behavior in rats rewarded by lateral hypothalamic (LHT) stimulation. Rats with electrodes implanted into the lateral hypothalamus were trained to press a lever to receive LHT stimulation. More than 90% of rats which had self-stimulated for longer than 30 min retained this behavior when tested 1 or 7 days later, indicating that intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) produced a stable long-term memory lasting for at least 7 days. Subsequently, we examined retention at shorter ICSS-test intervals. Retention rates were measured 15, 30, 60, 90, 120, 180 or 360 min after the end of a 90-min period of ICSS, using a different group of 15 rats for each interval. Unexpectedly, retention rates in shorter interval tests were lower than those observed after 1 or 7 days. We observed a characteristic fluctuation in retention rates with lower rates at 30 and 180 min, giving a triphasic form to the retention curve with peaks at 15, 90 and 360 min. When a group of rats that had been previously stimulated and shown to have retained the lever-pressing behavior was allowed to re-stimulate a second time, no fluctuations were observed in short-term interval tests. This indicates that the fluctuations in the retention curve immediately after initial ICSS are closely related to the initial acquisition of the memory. Our results support a three-phase model of memory formation that includes a transient-intermediate stage between short- and long-term memory. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd and the Japan Neuroscience Society. All rights reserved.