What's hot: the enhancing effects of thermal stress on long-term memory formation in Lymnaea stagnalis.

Time-related expression profiles for heat shock protein gene transcripts (HSP40, HSP70) in the central nervous system of Lymnaea stagnalis exposed to thermal stress

Organisms exposed to environmental stressors respond by rapidly synthesising a suite of highly conserved proteins called heat shock proteins (HSPs). Environmental stress can also enhance and/or block memory formation, with long-term memory formation requiring gene activation and protein synthesis. Thermal stress in the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis can enhance memory formation, and, in this stud...

Impairing DNA methylation obstructs memory enhancement for at least 24 hours in Lymnaea

Stressor-induced memory enhancement has previously been shown to involve DNA methylation in the mollusc Lymnaea stagnalis. Specifically, injection of the DNA methylation inhibitor 5-AZA one hour before exposure to a memory-enhancing stressor obstructs memory augmentation. However, the duration of the influence of 5-AZA on this memory enhancement has not yet been examined. In this study, 2 memor...

Strain-specific differences of the effects of stress on memory in Lymnaea.

Stress alters the ability to form, recall and maintain memory according to the Yerkes-Dodson/Hebb (YDH) law. The effects of environmentally relevant stressors, such as low environmental calcium and crowding, on learning and memory have previously been described in a laboratory-reared 'average' strain of Lymnaea stagnalis (i.e. the Dutch strain) as well as two strains of freshly collected L. sta...

The role of retinoic acid in long-term memory formation and synaptic plasticity in the mollusc Lymnaea stagnalis

Inverse Relationship between Basal Pacemaker Neuron Activity and Aversive Long-Term Memory Formation in Lymnaea stagnalis

Learning and memory formation are essential physiological functions. While quiescent neurons have long been the focus of investigations into the mechanisms of memory formation, there is increasing evidence that spontaneously active neurons also play key roles in this process and possess distinct rules of activity-dependent plasticity. In this study, we used a well-defined aversive learning mode...