Distinct Components of Spatial Learning Revealed by Prior Training and NMDA Receptor Blockade
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Transcript of Distinct Components of Spatial Learning Revealed by Prior Training and NMDA Receptor Blockade
Distinct Components of Spatial Learning Revealed by Prior Training
and NMDA Receptor BlockadeD.M. Bannerman, M.A. Good, S.P. Butcher,
M. Ramsay & R.G.M. Morris
GROUP A3Bonnie Chan | Anastasia Christopher | Herman Gill
Marisa Leung | Sarah McNeil | Carol Rego
Overall Evaluations
Methodological Critiques◦ Unexplored Pathway of LTP◦ Age and Gender Anomalies ◦ Pharmacological Side Effects
Alternate Interpretation of the Results
Further Exploration
Table of ContentsCarol Rego
Overall EvaluationsCarol Rego
The purpose of the study was very non specific, which allowed for further
exploration during the course of the study.
Experiment Evaluation
Experiment 1 • injection of AP5 caused learning deficit Experiment 2
• found contradicting results where the AP5 rats learned quite well despite complete LTP blockade
Experiment 3 • NMDA receptors are not necessary for all hippocampus dependant spatial learning
Experiment 4 • AP5 rats, given non-spatial pretraining, a learning deficit was observed
Overall EvaluationsCarol Rego
Overall EvaluationsCarol Rego
NMDA receptors are not necessary for all hippocampus dependant spatial learning, but NMDA receptor dependant plasticity is dependent on the hippocampus for its
expression.
Study focused on hippocampus
Actually three different pathways
Unexplored Pathway of LTPHerman Gill
Unexplored Pathway of LTPHerman Gill
Pathway Input
Perforant Pathway Entorhinal Cortex II, III (EC2 & EC3)
Mossy Fibre Pathway Dentate Gyrus (DG)Schaffer Collateral Pathway Cornu Ammonis III (CA3)
Unexplored Pathway of LTPHerman Gill
PerforantMossy FibreSchaffer Collateral
Unexplored Pathway of LTPHerman Gill
PerforantMossy FibreSchaffer Collateral
LTP is NMDA-independent in mossy fibre pathway
In CA1 and DG◦ NMDA responsible
for LTM retrieval
In CA3◦ NMDA responsible
for spatial recognition
Unexplored Pathway of LTPHerman Gill
LTM RetrievalSpatial Recognition
Difference in performance with regards to age
Declines continuously beginning at earliest age
Age Anomalies Bonnie Chan
Gender Anomalies Bonnie Chan
Gender Cues Efficiency Male Geometric FastFemale Landmark/Multiple Slow
Common critique/concern
Effects of the drugs used to block NMDA receptors not well researched
Side effects may cause a decrease in performance◦ (i.e.) due to drowsiness, disorientation
Solution Gene knockout?
Pharmacological Side Effects
Bonnie Chan
Stress Impairs Performance in Spatial Water Maze Learning Tasks (1999)◦ By Christian Holscher
Alternate InterpretationAnastasia Christopher
Stressful situations◦ Stress can impair performance on specific
activities
How altered fear conditions and stress perception can account for the impaired spatial learning
Alternate InterpretationAnastasia Christopher
Findings:
◦ Stress can cause amnesic symptoms in working memory
◦ Non-handled rats were slower in a spatial learning task
Alternate InterpretationAnastasia Christopher
Alternate InterpretationAnastasia Christopher
Connection:
◦ Alternative interpretations for this research paper Experiment 2 no deficit; handling Experiment 3 stress was not an issue Experiment 4 extramaze cues
Alternate InterpretationAnastasia Christopher
Further StudiesSarah McNeil
Evidence Supporting Evidence Against
Same results found in gene knockout studies
In nature, large scale EPSP’s do not occur during information processing
Training in the brain uses same pathways as LTP and causes same synaptic efficiency
Drug and gene knockout can have other side effects that skew data
LTP can occur in other regions of the brain (i.e. amygdala)
Unethical to test LTP in humans and cannot extrapolate data across species
There is lots of evidence to suggest that LTP might be similar to the neural mechanism
that the brain uses in learning and memory but the conclusion can not be made that the
mechanisms are the same.
Further Studies – Conclusion
Sarah McNeil
Provided subsequent analyses of their hypothesis creating a concrete conclusion
However:Left several possible causal pathways unexplored
Failed to account for pharmacological side effects, age, and gender of subjects
Possible misinterpretation of results
Further studies have shown some validity in Bannerman et al results
ConclusionCarol Rego
This concludes our presentation
We will be happy to address any questions you may have