CGC Bibliography Paper 5404

A new group-training procedure for habituation demonstrates that presynaptic glutamate release contributes to long-term memory in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Rose JK, Kaun KR, Rankin CH

Medline:

12075001

Citation:

Learning & Memory 9: 130-137 2002

Type:

ARTICLE

Genes:

avr-14 avr-15 eat-4 glr-1

Abstract:

In the experiments reported here we have developed a new group-training protocol for assessing long-term memory for habituation in Caenorhabditis elegans. We have replicated all of the major findings of the original single-worm protocol using the new protocol: (1) distributed training produced long-term retention of training, massed training did not; (2) distributed training at long interstimulus intervals (ISIs) produced long-term retention, short ISIs did not; and (3) long-term memory for distributed training is protein synthesis-dependent as it could be blocked by heat shock during the inter-block interval. In addition, we have shown that long-term memory for habituation is graded, depending on the number of blocks of stimuli in training. The inter-block interval must be >40 min for long-term retention of training to occur. Finally, we have tested long-term memory for habituation training in a strain of worms with a mutation in a vesicular glutamate transporter in the sensory neurons that transduce tap (eat-4). The results from these eat-4 worms indicate that glutamate release from the sensory neurons has an important role in the formation of long-term memory ror habituation.