PMID: 8613720Dec 1, 1995Paper

Regional patterns of c-fos mRNA expression in rat hippocampus following exploration of a novel environment versus performance of a well-learned discrimination

The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience
U S HessC M Gall

Abstract

Previous studies using c-fos cRNA in situ hybridization demonstrated a differential involvement of hippocampal subfields CA1 and CA3 in the acquisition of an olfactory discrimination (Hess et al., 1995). The present experiments employed the same method to examine changes in neuronal activity associated with two related behaviors: (1) initial exploration of the training apparatus and (2) performance of a well-learned odor discrimination. Rats in the two groups had similar labeling patterns within hippocampus indicating increased expression in all three major subfields with the greatest effect being in CA1. This pattern of "CA1 dominance" was notably different from that produced during early stages of two-odor discrimination learning in prior experiments. Hippocampal labeling in exploration and performance rats differed in that (1) hybridization was greater in CA1, CA3, and dentate gyrus in the former group and (2) a tendency for labeled cells to occur in clusters was more evident in exploration animals. Levels of c-fos mRNA in olfactory and visual structures were not predictive of expression patterns within hippocampus although labeling in piriform cortex and dentate gyrus was correlated in rats performing a well-practiced discr...Continue Reading

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