Socially transmitted food preferences can be used to study long-term memory in rats

Galef, Bennett G.; Whiskin, Elaine E.

doi:10.3758/bf03195978

Cited by 59 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…However, a previous study found that rats given STFP ; 0 þ, labeled; :, increase (P < 0.05); ;, decrease (P < 0.05); -, no significant change; 0, none found; trn, training; kill, killed. training on two odors at different times retained both preferences (Galef and Whiskin, 2003b), suggesting that training on a second odor should not replace the memory for the first odor. Therefore, it seems more likely that the decreased survival is produced by the continued repetition of similar training events.…”

Section: Increased or Decreased Survivalmentioning

confidence: 99%

A natural form of learning can increase and decrease the survival of new neurons in the dentate gyrus

et al. 2005

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Granule cells born in the adult dentate gyrus undergo a 4-week developmental period characterized by high susceptibility to cell death. Two forms of hippocampus-dependent learning have been shown to rescue many of the new neurons during this critical period. Here, we show that a natural form of associative learning, social transmission of food preference (STFP), can either increase or decrease the survival of young granule cells in adult rats. Increased numbers of pyknotic as well as phospho-Akt-expressing BrdU-labeled cells were seen 1 day after STFP training, indicating that training rapidly induces both cell death and active suppression of cell death in different subsets. A single day of training for STFP increased the survival of 8-day-old BrdU-labeled cells when examined 1 week later. In contrast, 2 days of training decreased the survival of BrdU-labeled cells and the density of immature neurons, identified with crmp-4. This change from increased to decreased survival could not be accounted for by the ages of the cells. Instead, we propose that training may initially increase young granule cell survival, then, if continued, cause them to die. This complex regulation of cell death could potentially serve to maintain granule cells that are actively involved in memory consolidation, while rapidly using and discarding young granule cells whose training is complete to make space for new naïve neurons.

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Section: Increased or Decreased Survivalmentioning

confidence: 99%

A natural form of learning can increase and decrease the survival of new neurons in the dentate gyrus

et al. 2005

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“…The food preference is subsequently measured in a choice test for consumption of the novel flavored food that the demonstrator ate versus a second, completely novel flavored food. Originally developed as a memory task [23,54], STFP may be used without a temporal delay between the interaction session and the choice session, to measure aspects of social communication between conspecifics [39,53]. Successful development of the food preference requires the subject mouse to interact with, and gather relevant olfactory and taste cues from, a conspecific.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Olfactory cues are sufficient to elicit social approach behaviors but not social transmission of food preference in C57BL/6J mice

Ryan

Young

Moy

et al. 2008

Behavioural Brain Research

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Mouse models for the study of autistic-like behaviors are increasingly needed to test hypotheses about the causes of autism, and to evaluate potential treatments. Both the automated 3-chambered social approach test and social transmission of food preference have been proposed as mouse behavioral assays with face validity to diagnostic symptoms of autism, including aberrant reciprocal social interactions and impaired communication. Both assays measure aspects of normal social behavior in the mouse. However, little is known regarding the salient cues present in each assay that elicit normal social approach and communication. To deconstruct the critical components, we focused on delivering discrete social and non-social olfactory and visual cues within the context of each assay. Results indicate that social olfactory cues were sufficient to elicit normal sociability in the 3-chambered social approach test On social transmission of food preference, isolated social olfactory cues were sufficient to induce social investigation, but not sufficient to induce food preference. These findings indicate that olfactory cues are important in mouse social interaction, but that additional sensory cues are necessary in certain situations. The present evidence that both the 3-chambered social approach assay and the social transmission of food preference assay require socially relevant cues to elicit normal behavior supports the use of these two assays to investigate autismrelated behavioral phenotypes in mice.

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“…The present experiment examines forgetting and associated changes in CREB and pCREB in rats trained on a social transmission of food preference (STFP) task (Galef and Whiskin 2003). In this task, an observer rat is allowed to interact with a demonstrator rat that had recently eaten a novel food.…”

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confidence: 99%

Rapid forgetting of social transmission of food preferences in aged rats: Relationship to hippocampal CREB activation

Countryman¹,

Gold²

2007

Learn. Mem.

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A major characteristic of age-related changes in memory in rodents is an increase in the rate of forgetting of new information, even when tests given soon after training reveal intact memory. Interference with CREB functions similarly results in rapid decay of memory. Using quantitative immunocytochemistry, the present experiment examined the number of CREB-and pCREB-immunoreactive neurons in three regions of the dorsal and ventral hippocampus (dentate gyrus, CA3, and CA1) as a function of age and training. Rats were trained in a social transmission of food preference task. Using different food pairings, memory was tested in each rat immediately and 1, 2, 3, and 7 d later. Both young and old rats had intact and comparable memory scores at the immediate and 24-h tests, but old rats exhibited more rapid forgetting thereafter relative to that of young rats. The main findings were that training resulted in large increases in the number of pCREB-immunoreactive cells throughout the hippocampus in both young and aged rats. However, particularly in the ventral hippocampus, the training-elicited increase in pCREB-positive neurons was significantly lower in old than in young rats. Based on Western blot analyses in a separate set of rats, CREB levels were not responsive to training but were lower in the ventral hippocampus of old rats than of young rats. The present findings suggest that lower activation of CREB after training may contribute to the rapid forgetting seen in aged rats.Rats and mice exhibit age-related impairments in learning and memory on many tasks. Often, the impairments can be characterized in terms of rapid forgetting, in which aged rats and mice have relatively comparable learning and memory on tests soon after training, but poor memory at later times after training (Barnes and McNaughton 1985;

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Socially transmitted food preferences can be used to study long-term memory in rats

Cited by 59 publications

References 20 publications

A natural form of learning can increase and decrease the survival of new neurons in the dentate gyrus

A natural form of learning can increase and decrease the survival of new neurons in the dentate gyrus

Olfactory cues are sufficient to elicit social approach behaviors but not social transmission of food preference in C57BL/6J mice

Rapid forgetting of social transmission of food preferences in aged rats: Relationship to hippocampal CREB activation

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