Abstract:
The pivotal role of the basolateral amygdala (BLA) in the emotional modulation of hippo-14 campal plasticity and memory consolidation is well established. Specifically, multiple studies have 15 demonstrated that the activation of the noradrenergic (NA) system within BLA governs these mod-16 ulatory effects. However, most of the current evidence has been obtained by direct infusion of syn-17 thetic NA or beta-adrenergic agonists. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the effect of 18 endogenous NA release in the BLA, induced by a natural aversive stimulus (coyote urine), on 19 memory consolidation for a neutral hippocampal-dependent task. We combined a weak version of 20 the object location task (OLT) with mild predator odor exposure (POE) for our experiments. To in-21 vestigate the role of the BLA in memory modulation, a subset of the animals (Wistar rats) were 22 treated with the non-selective beta-blocker propranolol at the end of the behavioral procedures. 23 Hippocampal tissue was collected either 90 minutes after drug infusion or 24 hours after the OLT 24 test. The samples were used to determine the levels of phosphorylated CREB (pCREB) and activity-25 regulated cytoskeleton-associated protein (Arc) – two molecular markers of experience-dependent 26 changes in neuronal activity. The result suggests that POE is a behavioral paradigm suitable for 27 studying the interaction between BLA and the hippocampus in memory prioritization and selectiv-28 ity.
Authors:
- Bogomil Peshev
- Petya Ivanova
- Desislava Krushovlieva
- Lidia Kortenska
- Dimitrinka Atanasova
- Pavel Rashev
- Nikolai Lazarov
- Jana Tchekalarova