Faculty Collaboration Database

Cholinergic basal forebrain is critical for social transmission of food preferences. Hippocampus 2000;10(6):729-38

Date

01/12/2001

Pubmed ID

11153718

DOI

10.1002/1098-1063(2000)10:6<729::AID-HIPO1010>3.0.CO;2-M

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-0034501287 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   63 Citations

Abstract

Studies using selective lesions of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons suggest that these neurons play a role in attentional processing, but not learning and memory. However, the tests of learning and memory used thus far have been restricted largely to spatial tasks. In the present study, we examined whether the cholinergic basal forebrain plays a role in a form of nonspatial associative memory, the social transmission of food preferences. Sham-operated control rats were compared to rats with 192 IgG-saporin lesions of the medial septum/diagonal band cholinergic projections to hippocampus or nucleus basalis magnocellularis/substantia innominata cholinergic projections to neocortex. Both lesions impaired 24-h retention of a learned social food preference relative to controls, despite performance on an immediate retention trial that was indistinguishable from controls. Moreover, 24-h retention of the socially learned food preference correlated strongly with cholinergic enzymatic activity in the neocortex, but not in the hippocampus. Immunohistochemical data confirmed significant and selective lesion-induced cholinergic depletions in the intended brain regions. These data provide evidence that the cholinergic basal forebrain, particularly the cholinergic projection to neocortex, is involved in the formation and/or retrieval of social memories related to food preference, and suggest a role for cortical acetylcholine in consolidation of associative memory processes.

Author List

Berger-Sweeney J, Stearns NA, Frick KM, Beard B, Baxter MG

Author

Karyn Frick BA,MA,PhD Professor in the Psychology department at University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Animals
Antibodies, Monoclonal
Association Learning
Attention
Basal Nucleus of Meynert
Choline O-Acetyltransferase
Cholinergic Agents
Cholinergic Fibers
Denervation
Feeding Behavior
Immunotoxins
Male
Memory
N-Glycosyl Hydrolases
Rats
Rats, Wistar
Ribosome Inactivating Proteins, Type 1
Septal Nuclei
Social Behavior