Rapid odor conditioning in newborn rabbits: amnesic effect of hypothermia.
Rabbit pups are completely dependent on a maternal pheromone for the release of suckling behavior. However, if the mother is perfumed prior to nursing, pups will learn to respond to the novel odor with the characteristic nipple-search behavior in just one 3-4 min nursing episode. In a first investigation of the processes underlying this recently developed learning paradigm, time-dependent effects of hypothermia on retention of the task could be demonstrated. Thus pups whose whole body was cooled to a mouth temperature of 7 degrees C immediately after conditioning (n = 10) and tested 24 h later for 3 min on a perfumed fur did not differ significantly in their search response from naive, untreated controls (n = 10). In contrast, pups cooled 4 h after conditioning (n = 10) demonstrated clear retention of the learned response and searched as vigorously as conditioned but uncooled animals (n = 10). As pups of all groups demonstrated normal nipple-search behavior when tested on a lactating doe, the deficits associated with immediate cooling appear to have been specific to the learning task and time of treatment.
Kindermann
U
U
Laboratoire de Physiologie Neurosensorielle, UA CNRS 180, Université Claude Bernard, Villeurbanne, France.
Gervais
R
R
Hudson
R
R
D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn / Q000523:psychology*; D001143:Arousal; D001833:Body Temperature Regulation; D003080:Cold Temperature; D003214:Conditioning, Classical; D011939:Mental Recall; D009812:Odorants; D011817:Rabbits; D012903:Smell