Molecular-Cellular Mechanisms of Plastic Restructuring Produced by an Enriched Environment. Effects on Learning and Memory

Alcohol is one of the oldest pharmacological agents used for its sedative/hypnotic effects, and alcohol abuse and alcohol use disorder (AUD) continues to be major public health issue. AUD is strongly indicated to be a brain disorder, and the molecular and cellular mechanism/s by which alcohol produces its effects in the brain are only now beginning to be understood. In the brain, synaptic plasticity or strengthening or weakening of synapses, can be enhanced or reduced by a variety of stimulation paradigms. Synaptic plasticity is thought to be responsible for important processes involved in the cellular mechanisms of learning and memory. Long-term potentiation (LTP) is a form of synaptic plasticity, and occurs via N-methyl-D-aspartate type glutamate receptor (NMDAR or GluN) dependent and independent mechanisms. In particular, NMDARs are a major target of alcohol, and are implicated in different types of learning and memory. Therefore, understanding the effect of alcohol on synaptic plasticity and transmission mediated by glutamatergic signaling is becoming important, and this will help us understand the significant contribution of the glutamatergic system in AUD. In the first part of this review, we will briefly discuss the mechanisms underlying long term synaptic plasticity in the dorsal striatum, neocortex and the hippocampus. In the second part we will discuss how alcohol (ethanol, EtOH) can modulate long term synaptic plasticity in these three brain regions, mainly from neurophysiological and electrophysiological studies. Taken together, understanding the mechanism(s) underlying alcohol induced changes in brain function may lead to the development of more effective therapeutic agents to reduce AUDs.

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Enriched Environment Rearing from Birth Reduced Anxiety, Improved Learning and Memory, and Promoted Social Interactions in Adult Male Mice

Neuroscience ◽

10.1016/j.neuroscience.2020.07.004 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 442 ◽

pp. 138-150

Author(s):

Jing-Jing Zheng ◽

Rong Zou ◽

Shajin Huang ◽

Tian-Jia Song ◽

Xiang Yu

Keyword(s):

Social Interactions ◽

Learning And Memory ◽

Adult Male ◽

Enriched Environment ◽

Male Mice ◽

Improved Learning

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Potential role of arteether on N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor expression in experimental cerebral malaria mice and extension of their survival

Parasitology ◽

10.1017/s0031182019000878 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 146 (12) ◽

pp. 1571-1577 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Sunil Kumar Singh ◽

Hemlata Dwivedi ◽

Sarika Gunjan ◽

Bhavana Singh Chauhan ◽

Swaroop Kumar Pandey ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Synaptic Plasticity ◽

Cerebral Malaria ◽

Learning And Memory ◽

Neurological Complication ◽

Receptor Expression ◽

Extreme Condition ◽

Mammalian Brain ◽

Cellular Mechanisms ◽

Experimental Cerebral Malaria ◽

Excitatory Neurotransmitter

AbstractCerebral malaria (CM) is the severe neurological complication causing acute non-traumatic encephalopathy in tropical countries. The mechanisms underlying the fatal cerebral complications are still not fully understood. Glutamate, a major excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system of the mammalian brain, plays a key role in the development of neuronal cells, motor function, synaptic plasticity, learning and memory processes under normal physiological conditions. The subtypes of ionotropic glutamate receptor are N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs) which are involved in cellular mechanisms of learning and memory, synaptic plasticity and also mediate excitotoxic neuronal injury. In the present study, we found that glutamate level in synaptosomes, as well as expression of NMDAR, was elevated during the extreme condition of CM in C57BL6 mice. Arteether at 50 mg kg−1× 1, 25 mg kg−1× 2, days decreased the NMDAR expression and increased the overall survival of the experimental CM mice.

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Forepaw Sensorimotor Deprivation in Early Life Leads to the Impairments on Spatial Memory and Synaptic Plasticity in Rats

Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology ◽

10.1155/2009/919276 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 2009 ◽

pp. 1-9 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Yuanyuan Zhang ◽

Fei Li ◽

Xiaohua Cao ◽

Xingming Jin ◽

Chonghuai Yan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Synaptic Plasticity ◽

Spatial Memory ◽

Learning And Memory ◽

Early Life ◽

Hippocampal Slices ◽

Long Term Potentiation ◽

Perforant Path ◽

Sprague Dawley ◽

Cellular Mechanisms ◽

Spatial Reference

To investigate the influence of forepaw sensorimotor deprivation on memory and synaptic plasticity, Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into two groups: a sham-operated group and a group deprived of forepaw sensorimotor function by microsurgical operation at postnatal day 13 (PN13). Behavioral and electrophysiological studies were performed at PN25, PN35, PN45, and PN60. Open field test was used to assess the spontaneous locomotor activity. Morris water maze was used to evaluate spatial reference learning and memory. The long-term potentiation (LTP) in the medial perforant path—dentate gyrus (MPP-DG) pathway was examined with hippocampal slices. We found that forepaw sensorimotor deprivation did not affect spontaneous activity of the rats. However, spatial reference learning and memory were significantly impaired in their early life (PN25, PN35, and PN45). In accordance with the behavior results, LTP in MPP-DG pathway was significantly suppressed in their early life. These data demonstrated that forepaw sensorimotor deprivation led to the impairments on spatial memory via inducing pronounced deficits in the MPP-DG pathway to exhibit LTP, one of the major cellular mechanisms underlying learning and memory.

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Enriched environment effects on remote object recognition memory

Neuroscience ◽

10.1016/j.neuroscience.2017.04.006 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 352 ◽

pp. 296-305 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Riccardo Melani ◽

Gabriele Chelini ◽

Maria Cristina Cenni ◽

Nicoletta Berardi

Keyword(s):

Object Recognition ◽

Recognition Memory ◽

Enriched Environment ◽

Remote Object ◽

Environment Effects ◽

Object Recognition Memory

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Enriched environment effects on behavior, memory and BDNF in low and high exploratory mice

Physiology & Behavior ◽

10.1016/j.physbeh.2010.12.025 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 102 (5) ◽

pp. 475-480 ◽

Cited By ~ 41

Author(s):

Vanessa Kazlauckas ◽

Natalia Pagnussat ◽

Sabrina Mioranzza ◽

Eduardo Kalinine ◽

Fernanda Nunes ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Enriched Environment ◽

Environment Effects

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Learning and Memory

The Neuron ◽

10.1093/med/9780199773893.003.0019 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 489-528

Author(s):

Irwin B. Levitan ◽

Leonard K. Kaczmarek

Keyword(s):

Learning And Memory ◽

Molecular Mechanisms ◽

Long Term Potentiation ◽

Memory Formation ◽

Spike Timing ◽

Cellular Mechanisms ◽

Long Term Depression ◽

Nervous Systems ◽

Term Potentiation

Psychologists have described different kinds of learning and memory, and there is an ongoing search for the physical basis of these distinctions and for the cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible. Because of the complexity of most nervous systems, the search has focused to a large extent on animals with relatively simple nervous systems and on reduced preparations. Common themes have emerged, such as the requirement for signaling pathways linked to calcium and cyclic AMP, and the fact that pathways used in normal development continue to be used for plasticity in adults. At the same time, it is clear that there is an enormous diversity of cellular mechanisms that contribute to short-term and long-term phases of memory formation. These include long-term potentiation (LTP), long-term depression (LTD), spike-timing dependent plasticity, synaptic tagging, and synaptic scaling. Each type of synaptic connection has its own personality such that, in response to a particular pattern of stimulation, one synapse may increase its postsynaptic receptors while another may expand its presynaptic terminals.

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