Long-term memory for spatial locations in a food-storing bird (Poecile atricapilla) requires activation of NMDA receptors in the hippocampal formation during learning.
Food-storing birds use a form of long-term memory to recover their hidden food caches that depends on the hippocampal formation (HF). The authors assessed whether food-storing birds' long-term memory for spatial locations requires N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDA-R)-dependent synaptic plasticity. Black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapilla) were given bilateral infusions of the NMDA-R antagonist AP5 into the hippocampus, and their memory on a spatial reference memory task was assessed. NMDA-R inactivation during learning prevented formation of long-term spatial memories but did not affect short-term memory and retrieval processes. NMDA-R inactivation immediately following learning did not disrupt long-term memory formation. NMDA-R inactivation disrupted the learning of multiple serially encoded reward locations when a 180-min delay separated successive learning episodes, suggesting that NMDA-R activity has a role in the incorporation of new information into existing long-term memory, as well as in forming unitary long-term memories.
Department of Psychology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA. shiflett@bns.pitt.edu
Michael W
MW
Shiflett
Michelle L
ML
Tomaszycki
Alexander Z
AZ
Rankin
Timothy J
TJ
DeVoogd
D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds; D004435:Eating / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists / Q000494:pharmacology; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D007858:Learning / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D008568:Memory / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000502:physiology*; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
D018691:Excitatory Amino Acid Antagonists; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate