Effects of thalamic and olfactory cortical lesions on continuous olfactory delayed nonmatching-to-sample and olfactory discrimination in rats (Rattus norvegicus).
We conducted 2 studies to determine the importance of several brain systems for remembering odorants in a go/no-go delayed nonmatching-to-sample (DNMTS) task. In Experiment 1, impairments were observed for lesions of pyriform cortex or (to a lesser extent) the lateral internal medullary lamina of thalamus. Lesions of the entorhinal cortex or the mediodorsal (MDn) or the paracentral and centrolateral (PC-CL) thalamic nuclei did not affect DNMTS. In Experiment 2, an impairment comparable to the pyriform lesion was observed for a lesion of the intralaminar nuclei (PC-CL plus the central medial nucleus) but not for a larger lesion of MDn. None of the lesions in either study affected the ability to learn a 2-choice odor discrimination using go/no-go procedures comparable with the DNMTS task.
Zhang
Y
Y
Department of Psychology, University of New Hampshire, Durham 03824, USA.
Burk
J A
JA
Glode
B M
BM
Mair
R G
RG
D000818:Animals; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D009833:Olfactory Pathways / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D012153:Retention, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*; D013787:Thalamic Nuclei / Q000502:physiology*