QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

The Journal of Neuroscience, October 15, 2008, 28(42):10711-10719; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3853-08.2008

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental Data Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Shea, S. D. Articles by Mooney, R. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Shea, S. D. Articles by Mooney, R. Pubmed/NCBI databases Compound via MeSH Substance via MeSH Medline Plus Health Information Memory

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Noradrenergic Induction of Odor-Specific Neural Habituation and Olfactory Memories

Stephen D. Shea,¹ Lawrence C. Katz,^1,2  and Richard Mooney¹

¹Department of Neurobiology and ²Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina 27710

Correspondence should be addressed to Stephen D. Shea, Department of Neurobiology, Box 3209, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710. Email: shea{at}neuro.duke.edu

For many mammals, individual recognition of conspecifics relies on olfactory cues. Certain individual recognition memories are thought to be stored when conspecific odor cues coincide with surges of noradrenaline (NA) triggered by intensely arousing social events. Such familiar stimuli elicit reduced behavioral responses, a change likely related to NA-dependent plasticity in the olfactory bulb (OB). In addition to its role in these ethological memories, NA signaling in the OB appears to be relevant for the discrimination of more arbitrary odorants as well. Nonetheless, no NA-gated mechanism of long-term plasticity in the OB has ever been directly observed in vivo. Here, we report that NA release from locus ceruleus (LC), when coupled to odor presentation, acts locally in the main OB to cause a specific long-lasting suppression of responses to paired odors. These effects were observed for both food odors and urine, an important social recognition cue. Moreover, in subsequent behavioral tests, mice exhibited habituation to paired urine stimuli, suggesting that this LC-mediated olfactory neural plasticity, induced under anesthesia, can store an individual recognition memory that is observable after recovery.

Key words: noradrenaline; olfactory bulb; neuromodulation; ceruleus; memory; behavior; electrical stimulation

---

Received Aug. 13, 2008; revised Sept. 1, 2008; accepted Sept. 1, 2008.

Correspondence should be addressed to Stephen D. Shea, Department of Neurobiology, Box 3209, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710. Email: shea{at}neuro.duke.edu

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help