Search PubMed⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “learning and memory”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,387 records · Page 77Linked to original sources

[Clinical and experimental studies on tiaoshen liquor for infantile hyperkinetic syndrome].

One hundred children with hyperkinetic syndrome were treated by using Tiaoshen Liquor (TL) consisted of Chinese herbal drugs. After the treatment, the behavior grading lowered greatly, their attention was improved, and their academic records raised. The total effective rate reached 94%. The results of the animal experiments showed that TL could reduce the spontaneous activities of the healthy mice, thus lowering remarkably the spontaneous activities in the mice with hyperkinetic behavior caused by taking scopolamine; reinforce the learning memory in the healthy mice; and improve in different degrees the learning memory of the mice with dysmnesia caused by administering scopolamine, sodium nitrite and alcohol respectively, which indicate that the therapeutic mechanism of TL for this syndrome was probably related to the improvement of information transfer function of the cholinergic neuron synapses of central nervous system and to the enhancement of hypoxia tolerence of the cerebral tissues.

Animals↗

Spatial learning and memory deficits after whole-brain irradiation are associated with changes in NMDA receptor subunits in the hippocampus.

Whole-brain irradiation is used for the treatment of brain tumors, but can it also induce neural changes, with progressive dementia occurring in 20-50% of long-term survivors. The present study investigated whether 45 Gy of whole-brain irradiation delivered to 12-month-old Fischer 344 x Brown Norway rats as nine fractions over 4.5 weeks leads to impaired Morris water maze (MWM) performance 12 months later. Compared to sham-irradiated rats, the irradiated rats demonstrated impaired MWM performance. The relative levels of the NR1 and NR2A but not the NR2B subunits of the NMDA receptor were significantly higher in hippocampal CA1 of irradiated rats compared to control rats. No significant differences were detected for these NMDA subunits in CA3 or dentate gyrus. Further analysis of CA1 revealed that the relative levels of the GluR1 and GluR2 subunits of the AMPA receptor and synaptophysin were not altered by whole-brain irradiation. In summary, a clinically relevant regimen of fractionated whole-brain irradiation led to significant impairments in spatial learning and reference memory and alterations in the relative levels of subunits of the NMDA, but not the AMPA, receptors in hippocampal CA1. These findings suggest for the first time that radiation-induced cognitive impairments may be associated with alterations in glutamate receptor composition.

Animals↗

Effect of exposure to high pressure on subsequent spatial learning and memory in rats.

The effects of high helium pressure on the subsequent acquisition of spatial memory were studied in male rats. Thirty-two rats were exposed to 65 ATA helium-oxygen pressure for 4.2 days, decompressed (total time in chamber 5 days), and then tested in an eight-arm radial maze. Thirty-two control rats were exposed in the chamber to 1 ATA air. Each rat had 20 sessions in the maze (2 sessions/day for 10 days), and the number of correct (visiting an arm not previously visited to obtain the reward pellet) and incorrect choices (visiting a previously visited arm) were recorded. Statistical analysis showed that the rats exposed to 65 ATA performed significantly better than 1-ATA controls during the first 8 of 20 sessions. This effect was most pronounced in sessions 5-8. Results for sessions 9-20 showed that the pressure-treated rats still made more correct choices but to an extent that did not always reach statistical significance. Possible explanations include the pressure-treated rats performing better because of hunger after a lower food consumption at pressure. Alternatively, pressure itself may enhance proposed mechanisms of spatial memory such as long-term potentiation.

Animals↗

Learning and memory in two different reward tasks in a radial arm maze in rats.

In an eight-arm radial maze, working and reference memory can be assessed simultaneously in the fixed position of reward task (FPRT) in which half of the arms are baited and their positions are fixed throughout the training trails. We characterized performance of rats in the variable position of reward task (VPRT), in which four out of eight arms were baited, but the positions were varied in every training trial. In the VPRT, the rats learned to choose all arms without any discrimination between baited and non-baited arms and the memory retention was time-dependent. The performance of rats in the FPRT was impaired by altering the spatial organization of the extramaze cues while it was not affected in the VPRT. The number of Fos-positive cells transiently increased in the cerebral cortex and hippocampus of both groups of animals during the training. Finally, bilateral lesions of the dorsal hippocampus resulted in an impairment of working memory in the FPRT and the performance of the rats in the VPRT. These results suggest that different strategies are used between the FPRT and VPRT but the hippocampus plays an important role in performance of rats trained for the VPRT as well as FPRT.

Animals↗

Amino acid levels during learning and memory consolidation of an aversive conditioning task in crickets.

We followed the titer of free amino acids in nervous ganglia and hemolymph of the cricket Pteronemobius sp. at different times during and after a shock avoidance training that included one experimental group and three controls. The results showed that Tau, urea, Thr, His, GABA, and an unidentified compound (Q) increased their titer in ganglia and hemolymph during training, whereas Ala, Arg, Val, Glu, Ser, and one or all of the group formed by Cys, Phe, Ile, Leu, and Trp decreased theirs concomitantly to memory consolidation. The difference in the rate of experimental insects and their yoked slaves to consolidate the learned task was reflected in the changes of the titers of the amino acids mentioned above. The data add to the evidence for a direct involvement of these amino acids in modulating the memory consolidation process.

Amino Acids↗

Synaptic plasticity and learning and memory: LTP and beyond.

Long-term potentiation (LTP) of synaptic activity is by far the most popular and widely researched model of synaptic plastic changes that might occur during learning. Numerous recent reports, however, have not found a correlation between the inducibility of LTP in the hippocampus and the ability of animals to learn hippocampus-dependent tasks. For example, some experiments with gene deletion (knockout) mice strains have shown that in some strains LTP is not inducible in the dentate gyrus, in area CA3, or CA1, but the animals are still able to learn spatial tasks. This apparent mismatch has rejuvenated the discussion concerning whether LTP is a good model for mechanisms that underlie memory formation in the nervous system. This review analyzes the conditions under which LTP is induced or learning takes place and suggests reasons for the mismatches that can occur and what we can learn from them. High-frequency stimulation protocols and in vitro assays cannot be seen to resemble natural firing patterns or conditions found in the brain. More physiological experimental conditions, especially in vivo recording in awake animals, could lead the way to the development of improved models of learning mechanisms that better correlate with learning abilities of animals.

Animals↗

Dahl salt-sensitive and salt-resistant rats: examination of learning and memory performance, blood pressure, and the expression of central nicotinic acetylcholine receptors.

Substantial human and animal data suggest a correlation between hypertension and memory impairment that may appear prior to overt manifestations of cerebrovascular pathology. It is unclear, however, whether hypertension plays a causal role in these memory deficits, whether hypertension and cognitive impairment are each based in family history and not interdependent, or whether a combination of these factors is important. The purpose of this study was to assess whether deficits in memory performance and nicotinic acetylcholine receptors were present in Dahl salt-sensitive rats (as observed previously in spontaneously hypertensive rats) and whether the presence of hypertension per se (induced with an 8% Na(+) diet) contributed to the deficits. Memory was assessed in a passive avoidance task, an eight-arm radial arm maze and in a water maze task, and nicotinic receptors were measured via quantitative receptor autoradiography utilizing [125I]alpha-bungarotoxin and [3H]epibatidine. Salt-sensitive rats exhibited impaired performance in both spatial learning tasks, but not the passive avoidance task, compared to controls (salt-resistant strain) and they exhibited reductions in nicotinic receptors labeled by [125I]alpha-bungarotoxin but not [3H]epibatidine in some brain regions, including some areas important for memory (e.g. the hippocampus and amygdala). In the radial arm maze, the degree of memory impairment and in binding studies the reduced expression of nicotinic receptors each failed to correlate with the highest blood pressures, and the salt-sensitive animals were impaired relative to controls whether or not the high Na(+) diet was administered. In contrast, higher blood pressures did correlate with inferior task performance in the water maze. These findings may suggest that the genetics of the subjects were critical for performance when appetitive drives were involved, but diet (and perhaps hypertension) were key to performance when memory did not involve appetitive drives or mechanisms. Overall, the data obtained from Dahl rats appear to support the role of family history (selective breeding in rats) as underlying the reductions in central nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, whereas both family history and hypertension may contribute to poor cognitive performance.

Animals↗

Small brains, bright minds.

Learning, memory, and social behavior are innate properties of the honeybee that are essential for the survival of each individual as well as for the survival of the hive. The small, accessible brain of the honeybee and the availability of the complete sequence of its genome make this social insect an ideal model for studying the connection between learning, memory, and social behavior.

Animals↗

Odor detection, learning, and memory in Huntington's disease.

We compared 7 mildly affected Huntington's disease (HD) patients to 7 age- and education-matched healthy controls (NC) on an odor detection test, the California Odor Learning Test, and the California Verbal Learning Test. Results demonstrated that odor detection sensitivity, but not group membership, accounted for significant variance in total olfactory learning. Both groups learned fewer items in the olfactory modality compared to the verbal modality, but retained a similar amount following a delay. No group differences were demonstrated for verbal recognition discriminability, but the HD group demonstrated significantly impaired odor recognition discriminability. Finally, odor detection provided excellent classification sensitivity and specificity between the patients and controls, suggesting that olfactory testing may provide a sensitive measure of the early disease process in HD.

Cognition Disorders↗