Enhancement of antibody production and expression of c-Fos in the insular cortex in response to a conditioned stimulus after a single-trial learning paradigm.
Immune responses can be modulated by Pavlovian conditioning techniques. In this study, to evaluate the conditionability of antibody response via a single-trial conditioning paradigm, we used a protein antigen ovalbumin as an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) that was paired with a novel taste of saccharin in a single-trial learning protocol. A significant enhancement of anti-ovalbumin antibody production was observed in the conditioned rats at Days 15, 20 and 25 after re-exposure to the conditioned stimulus. The pattern of conditioned antibody response is similar to that of antigen-induced antibody response. Furthermore, to identify the involvement of a limbic brain structure in the expression of conditioned antibody response, immediate-early gene c-fos expression was used as a marker of neuronal activation to detect the functional activation in the insular cortex (IC) in response to the conditioned stimulus. The re-exposure of conditioned rats to the conditioned stimulus resulted in a significant increase of c-Fos immunoreactivity in all three areas of the IC including the agranular, dysgranular, and granular areas, suggesting that IC is involved in the neural mechanism of expression of conditioned immune response.
Chen
Jihuan
J
Brain-Behavior Research Center, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
Lin
Wenjuan
W
Wang
Weiwen
W
Shao
Feng
F
Yang
Jie
J
Wang
Bairen
B
Kuang
Fang
F
Duan
Xiaoli
X
Ju
Gong
G
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D000917:Antibody Formation / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D002452:Cell Count / Q000379:methods; D003214:Conditioning, Classical / Q000502:physiology*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D019579:Neocortex / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000378:metabolism*; D015213:Neuroimmunomodulation / Q000502:physiology*; D010047:Ovalbumin / Q000494:pharmacology; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000378:metabolism*; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D013997:Time Factors
D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; D010047:Ovalbumin