title: c-Fos expression correlates with performance on novel object and novel place recognition tests.
abstract: In rodents, many studies have been carried out using novelty-preference paradigms. The results show that the perirhinal cortex and the hippocampus are involved in the recognition of a novel object, "what", and its new position, "where", respectively. We employed these two variants of a novelty-preference paradigm to assess whether the expression of the immediate-early gene c-fos in the dorsal hippocampus and perirhinal cortex correlates with the performance discrimination ratio (d2), on the respective versions of the novelty preference tests. A control group (CO) was added to explore c-fos activation not specific to recognition. The results showed different patterns of c-Fos protein expression in the hippocampus and perirhinal cortex. The Where Group presented more c-Fos positive nuclei than the What and CO groups in the CA1 and CA3 regions, whereas in the perirhinal cortex, the What Group showed more c-Fos positive nuclei than the Where and CO groups. The correlation results indicate that levels of c-Fos in the CA1 area and perirhinal cortex correlate with effective exploration, d2, on the respective versions of the novelty preference tests, novel place and novel object recognition. These data suggest that the hippocampal CA1 and perirhinal cortex are specifically related to the level of recognition of place and objects, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neuroscience, Institute of Neurosciences of the Principality of Asturias (INEUROPA), Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Oviedo, Plaza Feijoo s/n, 33003 Oviedo, Spain. Electronic address: mendezlmarta@uniovi.es.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mendez
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neuroscience, Institute of Neurosciences of the Principality of Asturias (INEUROPA), Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Oviedo, Plaza Feijoo s/n, 33003 Oviedo, Spain; Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK.
authors.forename: Natalia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Arias
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Psychobiology, Department of Experimental Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Seville, C/Camilo José Cela s/n, 41018 Seville, Spain.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Uceda
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neuroscience, Institute of Neurosciences of the Principality of Asturias (INEUROPA), Department of Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Oviedo, Plaza Feijoo s/n, 33003 Oviedo, Spain.
authors.forename: Jorge L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Arias
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D056547:CA1 Region, Hippocampal / Q000378:metabolism*; D056654:CA3 Region, Hippocampal / Q000378:metabolism*; D002452:Cell Count; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000378:metabolism*; D005106:Exploratory Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000378:metabolism*; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos
keywords: Novelty-preference; Rat; Recognition; c-Fos