c-Fos expression in supramammillary and medial mammillary nuclei following spatial reference and working memory tasks.
To investigate brain substrates of spatial memory, neuronal expression of c-Fos protein was studied. Two groups of rats were trained in two spatial memory tasks in the Morris water maze, where the rats have to apply a reference memory rule or a working memory rule. In addition to the experimental groups, two control groups were used to study c-fos activation not specific to the memory processes studied. After immunohistochemical procedures, the number of c-Fos positive neuronal nuclei was quantified in the mammillary body (MB) region (medial mammillary nucleus [MMn] and supramammillary nucleus [SuM]). The results have shown that some MMn neurons expressed c-Fos nuclear immunoreactivity related to spatial working memory but not to spatial reference memory. The increased number of c-Fos immunoreactive neuronal nuclei in the SuM was related to spatial training but not to either working or reference memory demands of the tasks.
Santín
L J
LJ
Area de Psicobiología, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Málaga, Campus de Teatinos s/n 29071, Málaga, Spain. luis@uma.es
Aguirre
J A
JA
Rubio
S
S
Begega
A
A
Miranda
R
R
Arias
J L
JL
D000818:Animals; D016762:Genes, fos / Q000235:genetics*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008326:Mammillary Bodies / Q000378:metabolism*; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000502:physiology; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*
D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos