MODULATION OF NEURAL SYSTEMS IN LEARNING AND MEMORY

在很大程度上，基于损伤研究，不同的神经系统似乎负责学习和记忆不同类型的信息。然而，大多数学习经验包含的信息跨越了这些不同的神经系统所服务的类。这个项目的主要目标是确定记忆处理的调制器是否在学习过程中调节不同大脑系统的相对参与，从而调节不同大鼠在这些情况下的学习。本实验采用直接脑内注射葡萄糖和吗啡，结合体内微透析/高效液相色谱测量乙酰胆碱输出，来研究啮齿动物的学习和记忆。三个任务和三个大脑区域将被测试：条件位置偏好学习，杏仁核依赖性；地点学习，海马体依赖性；反应学习，依赖纹状体。第一组实验使用直接注射葡萄糖和吗啡，这种治疗方法可以增强和损害注射部位的学习和记忆过程。由于每个解剖系统有时会干扰另一个系统的学习，一些预测包括明显矛盾的损害和通过适当注射葡萄糖和吗啡来增强学习。第二组实验确定与训练相关的乙酰胆碱增加是否仅限于那些被不同训练程序激活的神经系统。其中包括一个任务，老鼠可以使用两种策略中的一种进行学习。因为每种策略都可能需要不同的神经系统的主要参与，所以在训练过程中测量每个系统的乙酰胆碱输出可能会揭示单个大鼠正在学习什么，即它在学习过程中采用了哪种策略。第三组实验确定葡萄糖对学习和记忆的增强是否仅在特定训练激活的神经系统中伴随着乙酰胆碱释放的增强。这些实验的发现可能会导致一个新的观点，记忆调节如何调节学习过程中不同的记忆系统的相对参与。

Largely on the basis of lesion studies, different neural systems appear to be responsible for learning and remembering different classes of information. However, most learning experiences contain information that crosses the classes served by these distinct neural systems. The main goal of this project is to determine whether modulators of memory processing regulate the relative participation of different brain systems during learning, thereby regulating what different rats learn in those situations. The proposed experiments use direct brain injections of glucose and morphine, together with in vivo microdialysis/HPLC measures of acetylcholine output, to study learning and memory in rodents. Three tasks and three brain areas will be tested: conditioned place preference learning, amygdala-dependent; place learning, hippocampus-dependent; response learning, striatum-dependent. The first set of experiments uses direct injections of glucose and morphine, treatments which enhance and impair learning and memory processes where injected. Because each of the anatomical systems can at times interfere with learning by another system, some predictions include apparently paradoxical impairment and enhancement of learning by appropriate injections of glucose and morphine. The second set of experiments determines whether training-related increases in acetylcholine are restricted to those neural systems activated by different training procedures. Included is one task in which rats can learn using either of two strategies. Because each strategy is likely to require major participation by a different neural system, measures of acetylcholine output in each system during training might reveal what an individual rat is learning, i.e. which strategy it employs during learning. The third set of experiments determines whether glucose enhancement of learning and memory is accompanied by augmented acetylcholine release only in the neural system activated by specific training. The findings of these experiments may lead to a new view of how modulators of memory regulate the relative participation of different memory systems during learning.