Imaging of an early memory trace in the Drosophila mushroom body

Wang, Y., Mamiya, A., Chiang, A. S., Zhong, Y. (April 2008) Imaging of an early memory trace in the Drosophila mushroom body. J Neurosci, 28 (17). pp. 4368-76. ISSN 1529-2401 (Electronic)

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URL: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18434515
DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2958-07.2008

Abstract

Extensive molecular, genetic, and anatomical analyses have suggested that olfactory memory is stored in the mushroom body (MB), a higher-order olfactory center in the insect brain. The MB comprises three subtypes of neurons with axons that extend into different lobes. A recent functional imaging study has revealed a long-term memory trace manifested as an increase in the Ca(2+) activity in an axonal branch of a subtype of MB neurons. However, early memory traces in the MB remain elusive. We report here learning-induced changes in Ca(2+) activities during early memory formation in a different subtype of MB neurons. We used three independent in vivo and in vitro preparations, and all of them showed that Ca(2+) activities in the axonal branches of alpha'/beta' neurons in response to a conditioned olfactory stimulus became larger compared with one that was not conditioned. The changes were dependent on proper G-protein signaling in the MB. The importance of these changes in the Ca(2+) activity of alpha'/beta' neurons during early memory formation was further tested behaviorally by disrupting G-protein signaling in these neurons or blocking their synaptic outputs during the learning and memory process. Our results suggest that increased Ca(2+) activity in response to a conditioned olfactory stimulus may be a neural correlate of early memory in the MB.

Item Type: Paper
Additional Information:
Uncontrolled Keywords: learning and memory Drosophila imaging calcium olfactory fluorescence microscopy
Subjects: organism description > animal > insect > Drosophila
organism description > animal behavior > memory
organs, tissues, organelles, cell types and functions > tissues types and functions > mushroom body
CSHL Authors:
Communities: CSHL labs > Zhong lab
Depositing User: CSHL Librarian
Date: 23 April 2008
Date Deposited: 29 Mar 2012 19:15
Last Modified: 06 Nov 2017 21:04
PMCID: PMC3413309
Related URLs:
URI: https://repository.cshl.edu/id/eprint/25592

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