Memantine improves memory for taste-avoidance learning in day-old chicks exposed to isolation stress

AbstractFive experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of novelty on visually-mediated taste-avoidance learning in domestic chicks. In experiments l a and b, chicks were reared with either uncoloured or blue fluid in their home cages, and then required to discriminate between blue and uncoloured fluids that were either palatable or unpalatable (quinine-adulterated). For some chicks the distasteful fluid was novel in appearance, for others it was familiar. In both experiments chicks readily discriminated between a novel unpalatable fluid and a familiar palatable one, but failed to discriminate between a familiar unpalatable fluid and a novel palatable one. This failure to discriminate resulted from avoidance of the palatable fluid. In neither experiment did novelty enhance the rate of avoidance learning. Experiment 2 tested more directly the effect of novelty on speed of avoidance learning. Chicks were reared on either red or blue palatable fluid, then tested with either red or blue distasteful fluid. Avoidance learning was more rapid when the distasteful fluid was novel in colour, in both red-reared and blue-reared chicks. Experiment 3 investigated the inability of chicks to discriminate between a familiar unpalatable fluid and a novel palatable one, demonstrated in experiment 1. Chicks were required to discriminate between different-coloured palatable and unpalatable fluids when both were familiar in appearance (experiment 3a) or when both were novel (experiment 3b). Discrimination occurred in the first case but not in the second. In addition, avoidance learning was slower when both unpalatable fluids were familiar. I conclude that (a) novelty faciliates visually-mediated taste-avoidance learning in chicks and (b) the failure of chicks to discriminate a novel palatable fluid from a familiar unpalatable one depends on the relative novelty of the palatable fluid and not on the relative familiarity of the unpalatable one. The results are discussed in the context of warning coloration and are explained in terms of an interaction between unlearned and learned avoidance tendencies.

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Odour and colour as cues for taste-avoidance learning in domestic chicks

Animal Behaviour ◽

10.1006/anbe.1996.0384 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 53 (6) ◽

pp. 1241-1250 ◽

Cited By ~ 63

Author(s):

TIMOTHY J ROPER ◽

NICOLA M MARPLES

Keyword(s):

Avoidance Learning ◽

Taste Avoidance ◽

Domestic Chicks

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Social isolation stress impairs passive avoidance learning in senescence-accelerated mouse (SAM)

Brain Research ◽

10.1016/j.brainres.2005.10.042 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 1067 (1) ◽

pp. 201-208 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Yoichi Chida ◽

Nobuyuki Sudo ◽

Junko Mori ◽

Chiharu Kubo

Keyword(s):

Passive Avoidance ◽

Social Isolation ◽

Avoidance Learning ◽

Passive Avoidance Learning ◽

Isolation Stress ◽

Social Isolation Stress ◽

Senescence Accelerated Mouse

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Ultrasonic vocalization ratios reflect the influence of motivational state and amygdala lesions on different types of taste avoidance learning

Behavioural Brain Research ◽

10.1016/j.bbr.2010.09.026 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 217 (1) ◽

pp. 88-98 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Selma Hamdani ◽

Norman M. White

Keyword(s):

Avoidance Learning ◽

Ultrasonic Vocalization ◽

Motivational State ◽

Taste Avoidance ◽

Different Types ◽

Amygdala Lesions

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DAF-2c signaling promotes taste avoidance after starvation in Caenorhabditis elegans by controlling distinct phospholipase C isozymes

Communications Biology ◽

10.1038/s42003-021-02956-8 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Masahiro Tomioka ◽

Moon Sun Jang ◽

Yuichi Iino

Keyword(s):

Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽

Avoidance Learning ◽

Akt Signaling ◽

The Other ◽

Phosphorylation Sites ◽

Genetic Studies ◽

Triggered Activity ◽

Akt Phosphorylation ◽

Taste Avoidance ◽

Low Salt

AbstractPreviously, we reported that DAF-2c, an axonal insulin receptor isoform in Caenorhabditis elegans, acts in the ASER gustatory neuron to regulate taste avoidance learning, a process in which worms learn to avoid salt concentrations experienced during starvation. Here, we show that secretion of INS-1, an insulin-like peptide, after starvation conditioning is sufficient to drive taste avoidance via DAF-2c signaling. Starvation conditioning enhances the salt-triggered activity of AIA neurons, the main sites of INS-1 release, which potentially promotes feedback signaling to ASER to maintain DAF-2c activity during taste avoidance. Genetic studies suggest that DAF-2c–Akt signaling promotes high-salt avoidance via a decrease in PLCβ activity. On the other hand, the DAF-2c pathway promotes low-salt avoidance via PLCε and putative Akt phosphorylation sites on PLCε are essential for taste avoidance. Our findings imply that animals disperse from the location at which they experience starvation by controlling distinct PLC isozymes via DAF-2c.

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