Brief communication; differential effects of a physiologically patterned low-intensity agent on the formation of an olfactory memory trace.
Male rats were exposed to a low-intensity (300-500 nT) electromagnetic (EM) field designed to simulate primed burst potentiation (PB) for 30 min preceding a one-trial olfactory learning task involving two brief encounters with a juvenile rat during a baseline (reference) and an experimental (EM) trial. The amount of time spent engaged in behaviors defining social investigation (i.e., sniffing, grooming) during the second encounter of the experimental trial was significantly elevated in adult rats receiving continuous EM stimulation prior to the initial encounter. These results support the hypothesis that LTP-like stimulation disrupts the acquisition of a learning task if the stimulus is delivered before training.
Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Biology, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario Canada P3E 2C6. G1200023@nickel.laurentian.ca
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Stewart
D000819:Animal Communication; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D003213:Conditioning, Psychological / Q000502:physiology; D004193:Discrimination Learning / Q000502:physiology; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000502:physiology; D017774:Long-Term Potentiation / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*; D012919:Social Behavior