| Title | Gap junctions and memory: An investigation using a single trial discrimination avoidance task for the neonate chick. | | Author(s) | Verwey LJ, Edwards TM | | Institution | School of Psychology, Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine, Monash University, 3800 Victoria, Australia. | | Source | Neurobiol Learn Mem 2009 Sep 29. | | Abstract | Gap junctions are important to how the brain functions but are relatively under-investigated with respect to their contribution towards behaviour. In the present study a single trial discrimination avoidance task was used to investigate the effect of the gap junction inhibitor 18-alpha-glycyrrhetinic acid (alphaGA) on retention. Past studies within our research group have implied a potential role for gap junctions during the short-term memory (STM) stage which decays by 15min post-training. A retention function study comparing 10muM alphaGA and vehicle given immediately post-training demonstrated a significant main effect for drug with retention loss at all times of test (10-180min post-training). Given that the most common gap junction in the brain is that forming the astrocytic network it is reasonable to conclude that alphaGA was acting upon these. To confirm this finding two additional investigations were undertaken using endothelin-1 (ET-1) and ET-1+tolbutamide. Importantly, a retention function study using 10nM ET-1 replicated the retention loss observed for alphaGA. In order to confirm that ET-1 was acting on astrocytic gap junctions the amnestic action of ET-1 was effectively challenged with increasing concentrations of tolbutamide. The present findings suggest that astrocytic gap junctions are important for memory processing. | | Language | ENG | | Pub Type(s) | JOURNAL ARTICLE
| | PubMed ID | 19796702 |
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